No Hamas Aren't Stealing The Aid In Gaza - Gazan militias Israel arms and pays are

The IDF along with anti-Hamas militias Israel is arming and paying, and the phony Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, are deliberately starving Palestinians in Gaza

The Israeli government and IDF have three propaganda lines about aid and hunger in Gaza. First the IDF is allowing plenty of food into Gaza and no one’s starving. Second (completely inconsistent with the first) that people are only going hungry or starving because Hamas is stealing lots of aid and hoarding it. And third that Israel doesn’t have a duty to feed its enemies (inconsistent with both their first line and Article 55 of the fourth Geneva Convention).

From March 19^th to May 19^th 2025 Israeli  ministers and officials claimed there was plenty of food in Gaza to last months, let in  during the last ceasefire. They also said the IDF was allowing no aid into Gaza to put pressure on Hamas, who they also claimed stole much of it. But if Hamas had months of food, how would cutting off aid temporarily put pressure on them? And how, if Hamas had stolen much of the aid and was hoarding it, would the rest of the population of Gaza have plenty of food? The Israeli government line was that when aid resumed it would be using a new distribution system that would prevent Hamas stealing aid and ensure it got to Gaza’s population (1) – (2).

A 740% increase in the price of food indicated shortages (3).

The Israeli government made clear its intention to starve the entire population of Gaza from the start. On October 9^th 2023 then Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said “I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel.” (4).

This complete siege had to be modified due to international pressure (especially from US politicians who didn’t want to be seen to support deliberate starvation) to letting in some aid and water, but never enough, while claiming it was plenty.

The IDF and COGAT, an Israeli government agency dealing with aid, claimed that by 15th September over 14,000 trucks had entered Gaza since the IDF stopped allowing any aid into Gaza from March 19^th to May 19^th 2025. If you measured from May 19th that would be 116 trucks a day. If from March 19^th (since zero aid got in from then till May 19^th) it’d be 77 trucks a day. Either way a fraction of the 500 trucks a day which every established aid agency and charity estimates a population the size of Gaza needs.

COGAT are often quoted as if they’re a neutral body, but COGAT’s head is an IDF general appointed by and responsible to the Israeli Defence Minister. And COGAT’s twitter posts are full of propaganda. So COGAT claims and statistics are questionable (5) – (6).

There is evidence that Palestinian gunmen are stealing aid on a large scale in Gaza, but not Hamas.

Netanyahu admits having Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence agency arm anti-Hamas militias like Abu Shabab’s Popular Forces. Which is known to loot aid trucks. Shin Bet also pays the wages of these  militias and the IDF has orders not to interfere with them as they extort money from Gazans for everything from looted food aid to making them pay rent to put up a tent in a “safe area” (7) – (8).

Large scale looting of trucks by gunmen began after the IDF first killed Hamas and Palestinian Authority armed police escorting aid convoys, until none would volunteer as convoy escorts. Then, when aid agencies and charities hired entirely non-Hamas security guards, the IDF killed them too, until no one would (9) – (11).

Looting by these gunmen happens just past IDF checkpoints swarming with troops and tanks, with IDF drones and helicopters patrolling over the whole of Gaza twenty-four hours a day. The IDF claim they’re too worried about accidentally hitting truck drivers to fire on the armed gangs (12) – (13).

The idea that Hamas could loot aid on a large scale in these circumstances is ridiculous. Aid is being looted by people the IDF and Israeli government want to loot it. So they can say “we allowed all these trucks of aid in”, but then it gets stolen by militias involved in organised crime, and by unarmed looters paid by wealthy Gazan businessmen who the IDF also have deals with. And isput on sale. But many Gazans can’t afford it as they’ve been kicked out of their homes, demolished by the IDF, and no longer have jobs or money (14) – (15).

Truck drivers also say the IDF make them take the same routes every time, making it easy for looters to wait in ambush (16).

There are also other ways the IDF and GHF ensure Palestinians in Gaza don’t get much aid even from trucks entering it.

Only a handful of “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation Aid distribution points” are usually available for over 1.5 million Gazans, open on average 11 minutes a day, according to the opening times posted  by the GHF online (17).

IDF soldiers and officers told Israel’s Haaretz newspaper they’re often ordered to open fire on civilians at these aid points, even when the sites are “open”. Including artillery and tank fire used supposedly to “communicate with” civilians. Truck drivers also say they witnessed the IDF fire on civilians (18) – (19).

Former contractors working for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation say the GHF’s armed security are encouraged to fire on civilians any time they feel like it ; and they do (20) – (22).

Which makes the GHF’s name as Orwellian as the Israeli government calling a plan for a tent city concentration camp in central Gaza “a humanitarian city”.

The IDF also has ever changing rules on what food can and can’t enter Gaza. Dates are banned as “a luxury”, while potatoes’ long shelf life makes them banned supposedly in case Hamas stockpiles them (23).

Aid trucks are only allowed to enter through Israeli crossing points. To do so they must also unload their entire cargo, to be put onto an Israeli truck, which is then unloaded again, searched and moved back onto their truck (24).

Truck drivers say the IDF often delay them for hours at the Gaza border, and are sometimes then told the crossing is now closed for the day. The IDF only has crossings nominally open for about 5 hours a day (25).

What’s more Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid parcels mostly contain pasta, flour, dried lentils, beans , chickpeas or rice plus cooking oil. So impossible to cook or eat without fuel and water (26).

Israel’s government and military cut off water piped from Israel at the start of the war. When they reopened some pipes with reduced volume, they didn’t allow enough fuel for generators needed to run pumps for piped water, or desalination plants. The water available from Gaza itself is mostly contaminated with seawater and sewage, or rainwater contaminated with sewage, as the IDF destruction of housing and forced evacuations push ever more people into smaller areas of tents with no sanitation (27) – (30).

The IDF began restoring more water infrastructure in 2024, but the “safe areas” they order civilians to move to don’t have enough water supplies, and the IDF regularly kill civilians in them. Nor do Gazans’ houses have water since the IDF demolished most of them. So the rate of diseases has rocketed, many previously rare diseases have become common, and deaths from a combination of malnutrition, dehydration and disease are common, especially among children. (31) – (36).

There’s no electricity without enough fuel for generators, because in 2006 the IDF destroyed Gaza’s only power station to collectively punish the population for Hamas kidnapping Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.  Apart from having destroyed most of the housing in Gaza by controlled demolitions and bulldozers, so that even if there was electricity, there are few standing buildings with electrical wiring. So few ovens (37) – (39).

Some Gazans make fuel to sell by melting plastic to make money to try to buy food (40).

So the people denying the people of Gaza enough food, and killing them by denying them enough clean water, sanitation, housing, healthcare and medical supplies, are the Israeli government and the IDF, along with anti-Hamas Gazan militias they’re arming, and Gazan businessmen they have deals with. And the phony US and Israeli government funded “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” is also part of this deliberate starvation campaign, using token amounts of aid distribution, to those lucky enough not to be shot, as a fig leaf.

(1) = NBC News 17 Apr 2025 ‘Aid groups describe dire conditions in Gaza as Israel says there is no shortage of aid’ https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/gaza-aid-shortage-israel-blockade-hunger-rcna201379

(2) = timesofisrael.com 16 Apr 2025 ‘Katz says Israel will renew aid to Gaza via civilian firms to prevent Hamas theft’, https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/katz-says-israel-will-renew-aid-to-gaza-via-civilian-firms-to-prevent-hamas-theft/

(3) = timesofisrael.com 05 May 2025 ‘As aid embargo on Strip enters third month, hunger is stalking Gazans again’, https://www.timesofisrael.com/as-aid-embargo-on-strip-enters-third-month-hunger-is-stalking-gazans-again/

(4) = timesofisrael.com 09 Oct 2023 ‘Defense minister announces ‘complete siege’ of Gaza: No power, food or fuel’, https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/defense-minister-announces-complete-siege-of-gaza-no-power-food-or-fuel/

(5) = Haaretz.com 16 Jul 2025 ‘IDF Officer Overseeing Gaza Aid Deliveries to Step Down After Right-wing Attacks’, https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-07-16/ty-article/.premium/idf-officer-overseeing-gaza-aid-deliveries-to-step-down-after-right-wing-attacks/00000198-13a8-d3be-a5bc-33fb33550000

(6) = Jerusalem Post 28 Aug 2024 ‘Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi appoints Elad Goren as new Head of Humanitarian-Civilian effort in Gaza’, https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-816729

(7) = timesofisrael.com 05 Jun 2025 ‘Israel providing guns to Gaza gang to bolster opposition to Hamas’, https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-providing-guns-to-gaza-jihadist-gang-to-bolster-opposition-to-hamas/

(8) = Haaretz.com 17 Sep 2025 ‘'Will Blow Up in Our Faces' Israel Using Gazan Militias for Military Operations in Exchange for Pay and Territory’ https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-09-17/ty-article/.premium/idf-shin-bet-using-gazan-militias-for-military-operations-in-exchange-for-pay-and-land/00000199-5822-d0dc-afdb-dab715ac0000

(9) = BBC News18 Nov 2024 ‘Almost 100 Gaza food aid lorries violently looted, UN agency says’, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5ypjd7gepmo

(10) =Times of Israel 16 Feb 2024 ‘US envoy: IDF killed Palestinian cops escorting Gaza aid convoy, leading them to refuse missions’, https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/us-envoy-idf-killed-palestinian-cops-escorting-gaza-aid-convoy-leading-them-to-refuse-missions/

(11) = theguardian.com 30 Aug 2024 ‘Aid agency says men killed by Israeli airstrike on convoy were a local escort’, https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/30/aid-agency-says-convoy-members-killed-by-israeli-airstrike-were-a-local-escort

(12) =Le Monde 15 Nov 2024 ‘In Gaza, humanitarian supplies looted right in front of the Israeli army’ https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/11/15/in-gaza-humanitarian-supplies-looted-right-in-front-of-the-israeli-army_6732902_4.html

(13) = theguardian.com 17 Oct 2024 ‘‘I hate the night’ Life in Gaza amid the incessant sounds of war’, https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2024/oct/17/i-hate-the-night-life-in-gaza-amid-the-incessant-sounds-of-war

(14) = haaretz.com 05 Aug 2025 ‘'Survival of the Strongest': Gaza Looters Wreak Havoc as Aid Seekers Remain Empty-handed’, https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/2025-08-05/ty-article-magazine/.premium/survival-of-the-strongest-gaza-looters-wreak-havoc-as-aid-seekers-remain-empty-handed/00000198-7a1e-d7c7-a5d8-7f1e7f2e0000

(15) = The Economist 14 May 2024 ‘A shadowy wartime economy has emerged in Gaza’,
https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2024/03/14/a-shadowy-wartime-economy-has-emerged-in-gaza

(16) = haaretz.com 12 Aug 2025 ‘Dates Are 'Luxury' – and Other Ways Israel Hinders Aid Trucks From Reaching Starving Gazans’ https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-08-12/ty-article-magazine/.premium/dates-are-luxury-and-other-ways-israel-hinders-aid-trucks-from-reaching-starving-gazans/00000198-9e25-d1fc-a3d8-feadb97a0000

(17) = theguardian.com 22 July 2025 ‘Eleven-minute race for food: how aid points in Gaza became ‘death traps’ – a visual story’ https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/jul/22/food-aid-gaza-deaths-visual-story-ghf-israel

(18) = Haaretz.com 27 Jun 2025 ‘'It's a Killing Field': IDF Soldiers Ordered to Shoot Deliberately at Unarmed Gazans Waiting for Humanitarian Aid’  https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-06-27/ty-article-magazine/.premium/idf-soldiers-ordered-to-shoot-deliberately-at-unarmed-gazans-waiting-for-humanitarian-aid/00000197-ad8e-de01-a39f-ffbe33780000

(19) = ITV News 21 Jul 2025 ‘Rare whistleblower account describes deadly chaos at GHF's aid distribution points’, https://www.itv.com/watch/news/rare-whistleblower-account-describes-deadly-chaos-at-ghfs-aid-distribution-points/prbty0x

(20) = CBS News 21 Aug 2025 ‘Eyewitness says American subcontractors at Gaza aid sites fired at Palestinians’, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/eyewitness-says-american-subcontractors-at-gaza-aid-sites-fired-at-palestinians/

(21) = BBC news 03 Jul 2025 ‘Gaza aid contractor tells BBC he saw colleagues fire on hungry Palestinians’, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cnvmry71q5yo

(22) = BBC news 25 Jul 2025 ‘'I witnessed war crimes' in Gaza, former worker at GHF aid site tells BBC’ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/cy8k8045nx9o

(23) = See (16) above

(24) = see (16) above

(25) = See (16) above

(26) = BBC News 26 Jul 2025 ‘What is inside the GHF food aid box being distributed in Gaza?’,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd787er1qz4o

(27) = timesofisrael.com 15 Oct 2023 ‘Israel says it is restarting water supply to southern Gaza Strip’ https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-says-it-is-restarting-water-supply-to-southern-gaza-strip/

(28) = timesofisrael.com 28 Oct 2023 ‘Amid concern for humanitarian situation, how much water and power does Gaza have?’ https://www.timesofisrael.com/amid-concern-for-humanitarian-situation-how-much-water-and-power-does-gaza-have/

(29) = BBC News 26 Aug 2024 ‘Diseases spread in Gaza as sewage contaminates camps and coast’, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2kjzk75eplo

(30) = timesofisrael.com 16 Aug 2025 ‘Some Gazan families turn to drinking unclean water as they battle heat, thirst’ https://www.timesofisrael.com/some-gazan-families-turn-to-drinking-unclean-water-as-they-battle-heat-thirst/

(31) = timesofisrael.com 05 Jun 2024 ‘How Israel worked to renew Gaza’s water supply amid the war, with help from locals’, https://www.timesofisrael.com/how-israel-worked-to-renew-gazas-water-supply-amid-the-war-with-help-from-locals/

(32) = Reuters 11 Sep 2025 ‘Overcrowded camps force Palestinians back to Gaza City danger’ https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/with-nowhere-else-shelter-palestinians-displaced-gaza-return-city-under-israeli-2025-09-11/

(33) = CNN 12 Dec 2023 ‘Bloody diarrhea, jaundice, hepatitis: Thousands fall ill in war-ravaged Gaza amid spike in infectious diseases’, https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/12/middleeast/gaza-diseases-spread-what-we-know-intl

(34) = The Lancet 29 May 2025 ‘Deterioration of health outcomes in Gaza: 19 months of protracted conflict’ https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)00812-8/fulltext#:~:text=and%20April%2C%202024%2C%20a%20sharp,and%20mobile%20clinics%20in%20Gaza

(35) = Independent.co.uk 23 Aug 2025 ‘Israel destroyed Gaza’s water plants. Now a deadly condition is spreading like wildfire’,
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/gaza-water-israel-acute-flaccid-paralysis-b2813953.html

(36) = theguardian.com 12 Aug 2025 ‘‘It’s a horrible picture’: Gaza faces new threat from antibiotic-resistant disease’, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/12/gaza-antibiotic-resistant-disease

(37) = B’TSelem Sep 2006 ‘Act of Vengeance: Israel's Bombing of the Gaza Power Plant and its Effects’ https://www.btselem.org/publications/summaries/200609_act_of_vengeance

(38) = Haaretz.com 17 Jul 2025 ‘New Satellite Data Shows: Gaza Devastation Scale Greater Than Estimated, at Least 70 Percent of Buildings Leveled’, https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-07-17/ty-article-magazine/.premium/satellite-data-shows-at-least-70-percent-of-gaza-buildings-leveled/00000198-12de-d9c7-af98-7adffc8f0000

(39) = BBC News 18 Jul 2025 ‘Israel levelling thousands of Gaza civilian buildings in controlled demolitions’ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-33fccfbe-abcc-4af1-bdd2-632b2787cf59

(40) = Reuters 12 Sep 2024 ‘Gazans burn plastic waste to produce fuel’, https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gazans-burn-plastic-waste-produce-fuel-2024-09-12/

Why Israel Doesn't Need To Defeat Hamas To Prevent More October Sevenths

It’s frequently said that the Israeli military has to fight the Gaza war to prevent more October 7^th style attacks by Hamas. That’s just not true though. Here’s why.

First, the Israeli military has powerful air and ground forces. Hundreds of advanced combat aircraft, plus a thousand military drones. It has hundreds of tanks and heavy artillery, thousands of motorised fighting vehicles and armoured personnel carriers. All its units have advanced targeting and night vision gear that Hamas lacks.

All Palestinian armed groups combined and Hezbollah, at their height, between them, had some drones, lots of automatic rifles, grenades and RPGs (anti-tank weapons). Plus some rockets which were mostly ineffective even before Israel developed the Iron Dome system of multiple anti-missile defences.

For instance from 2004 to 2014 10,790 rockets were fired into Israel from Gaza. Just thirty-two Israelis and five foreign nationals were killed by them.

Israel also has massive intelligence resources. Entire units of Israeli intelligence who can talk Arabic and pass for Palestinians. Drones and reconnaissance planes flying over Gaza constantly. It has signals intelligence (listening in on phone and radio conversations). The US shares satellite intelligence images with it. It had CCTV cameras all round Gaza with IDF observers watching them all day (1).

IDF intelligence had detailed reports on Hamas’ plans 18 months before October 7^th. And long before that, in 2017, Netanyahu gave testimony to a Knesset committee outlining Hamas plans fairly similar to what happened on October 7^th. IDF border observers had repeatedly alerted their superiors to Gazan armed groups training in open air camps (complete with mock tanks, houses, and people pretending to be hostages) and to them pointing at the border fence while looking at maps (2) – (4).

Egyptian intelligence also repeatedly passed on warnings to the Israeli government. Including in a phone call by the Egyptian Security Minister to Netanyahu ten days before the attack  warning Gazan armed groups planned a “big”  and “unusual attack”. Netanyahu knew roughly what that meant given he’d described Hamas plans with multiple similarities to October 7^th to a Knesseet committee in 2017 (5) – (6).

Yet just 600 IDF were left guarding bases on the Gaza border, and most of the rest of the IDF were allowed to go on holiday, all at the same time (7).

We’re told this was because the Israeli government and military and intelligence heads “thought Hamas was deterred”. But this is a ludicrous story. They didn’t need to know when or even if Hamas would carry out the plans they knew it had trained for in order to leave 5% or 10% of the IDF’s 169,500 full time strength guarding the Gaza border at all time. Or the same again on standby 24 hours in shifts ready to back them up if an attack came. That was an obvious and easy precaution that could be taken (8).

The story is also that they thought the real threat was in the West Bank. This again, is nonsense, since the IDF’s military strength outclasses all its enemies (and definitely every Palestinian armed group) by so much that they could easily prevent any attack of any significant size in both the West Bank and Gaza, and still have plenty left in case Hezbollah did anything.

So since they could have prevented October 7^th easily, the only logical conclusion is that they allowed it because they wanted it to happen to give a pretext for what Netanyahu and politicians to the right of him had talked of for decades – taking the whole West Bank and Gaza and East Jerusalem.

“This country is all ours” as now Israeli ambassador to the UK and then Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely put it in 2015. The first election manifesto of Netanyahu’s Likud party in 1977 said “between the Sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty”. The same year British historian Max Hastings met a younger Benjain Netanyahu. Bibi told him “In the next war we've got to get the Palestinians out of the West Bank for good”. Israeli cabinet ministers like Belazel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir openly talk of getting rid of all Palestinians from Gaza, followed by the West Bank, where the IDF has already forced Palestinians out of their homes, and the Israeli government has said they can’t return for at least a year in some areas. And the IDF is demolishing their homes, as it has on a much larger scale in Gaza. Netanyahu says “implementation of the Trump plan for Gaza is a condition for ending the war”. That plan is to remove Palestinians from Gaza, though no other country is prepared to take most of them, so if the war and deliberate starvation continues, most will die (9) – (18).

The supposed need to defeat Hamas to prevent more October sevenths is just a pretext for this war to wipe Palestinians and any chance of a Palestinian state off the map. The constant talk of Hamas being “an existential threat” to Israel is nonsense as shown by how one sided every Gaza war has been.

The argument that they must be destroyed or removed from power forever because they are uniquely evil is made nonsense by the number of civilians and children killed by the IDF in Gaza. And from what many IDF soldiers and officers have told Israeli newspapers and magazines, mostly due to orders to kill any Palestinian they see in IDF military zones which now cover most of the strip. With the majority civilians, but counted as terrorists in IDF stats. The deliberate starvation of the entire population of Gaza is also undoubtedly an evil act.

And while Hamas murdering civilians on October 7^th was certainly evil too, the worst horror stories have been admitted to be false by the IDF and the ZAKA first responders charity whose officers and volunteers respectively told them to the Israeli media. Reporters for the Israeli Haaretz newspaper talked to survivors in the kibbutzim these atrocities were meant to have happened in, and found that there weren’t enough children of the age claimed in kibbutz Be’eri for lots to have been tied together and burned alive. There were no babies hung from washing lines. No forty beheaded babies. No foetuses cut from the stomachs of pregnant women (19) – (20).

The majority of burned bodies were almost certainly due to IDF tank and helicopter fire, including hellfire missiles. Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said in an interview with Medhi Hasan that the official figures on October 7^th dead were reduced from 1,400 to around 1,200 after it was realised that 200 burned bodies were of Hamas gunmen, not Israelis (21) (watch linked interview from 6 minutes 37 seconds).

It seems unlikely 200 Hamas gunmen burned themselves alive. IDF officers have admitted ordering tanks to fire on houses containing both attackers and hostages. And IDF reservist evacuation unit members told Israeli TV of watching Israeli helicopters fire rocket after rocket into houses in kibbutz Be’eri. IDF investigations also found some hostages were killed by Israeli helicopter fire on vehicles they were in (22) – (24).

So there is no possible way to justify a war that would keep killing civilians as collateral damage in large numbers, let alone the actual Gaza war of mostly mass murder and deliberate starvation of civilians and children, aimed at genocide or ethnic cleansing of most Palestinians from it.

SOURCES

(1) = theguardian.org 17 Oct 2024 ‘‘I hate the night’ Life in Gaza amid the incessant sounds of war’ https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2024/oct/17/i-hate-the-night-life-in-gaza-amid-the-incessant-sounds-of-war

(2) = timesofisrael.com 5 Dec 2023 ‘More details unveiled of IDF intel on Oct. 7 plans, consults hours before Hamas attack’, https://www.timesofisrael.com/more-details-unveiled-of-idf-intel-on-oct-7-plans-consults-hours-before-hamas-attack/

(3) = timesofisrael.com 22 Dec 2023 ‘‘Frogmen, hang gliders, kidnapped Israelis’: Netanyahu described Hamas’s plans in 2017’, https://www.timesofisrael.com/frogmen-hang-gliders-kidnapped-israelis-netanyahu-described-hamass-plans-in-2017/

(4) = nbcnews.com 08 Oct 2024 ‘They were Israel's eyes on the border, but their warnings about Hamas went unheard’,  https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-hamas-war-gaza-observation-hamas-attack-soldiers-kidnapped-rcna174228

(5) = timesofisrael.com 09 Oct 2023 ‘Egypt intelligence official says Israel ignored repeated warnings of ‘something big’, https://www.timesofisrael.com/egypt-intelligence-official-says-israel-ignored-repeated-warnings-of-something-big/

(6) = timesofisrael.com 26 Feb 2024 ‘Only 600 Israeli soldiers were guarding Gaza border on October 7 — report’, https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/only-600-israeli-soldiers-were-gaurding-gaza-border-on-october-7-report/

(7) = timesofisrael.com 22 Dec 2023 ‘‘Frogmen, hang gliders, kidnapped Israelis’: Netanyahu described Hamas’s plans in 2017’, https://www.timesofisrael.com/frogmen-hang-gliders-kidnapped-israelis-netanyahu-described-hamass-plans-in-2017/

(8) = aljazeera.com 11 Oct 2023 ‘How big is Israel’s military and how much funding does it get from the US?’ https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/11/how-big-is-israels-military-and-how-much-funding-does-it-get-from-the-us ( NOTE – Al Jazeera’s source for this figure is the International Institute for Strategic Studies ‘Military Balance 2023’)

(9) = timesofisrael.com 21 May 2015 ‘Israel’s top diplomat tells colleagues ‘entire land is ours’’,
https://www.timesofisrael.com/deputy-fm-tells-diplomats-the-whole-land-is-ours/

(10) = theguardian.com 09 May 2009 ‘The paradox of Israel's pursuit of might’ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/may/09/israel-middle-east-max-hastings

(11) = timesofisrael.com 6 May 2025 ‘Smotrich says Gaza to be ‘totally destroyed,’ population ‘concentrated’ in small area’ https://www.timesofisrael.com/smotrich-says-gaza-to-be-totally-destroyed-population-concentrated-in-small-area/

(12) = timesofisraeel.com 03 Aug 2025 ‘On Temple Mount, Ben Gvir calls for Gaza takeover, ‘voluntary emigration’ of Palestinians’  https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/on-temple-mount-ben-gvir-calls-for-gaza-takeover-voluntary-emigration-of-palestinians/

(13) = timesofisrael.com 12 Jun 2025 ‘Cabinet ministers vow to annex West Bank, Gaza and more at far-right confab’,  https://www.timesofisrael.com/cabinet-ministers-vow-to-annex-west-bank-gaza-and-more-at-far-right-confab/

(14) – Sky News 23 Feb 2025 ‘Tanks 'move into West Bank' after Israel orders troops to 'not allow' Palestinians to return’ https://news.sky.com/story/tanks-move-into-west-bank-as-israel-orders-troops-to-remain-for-a-year-and-not-allow-palestinians-to-return-13315597

(15) = BBC News 03 May 2025 ‘'I saved my ID card and my dog': Israel expands demolitions of West Bank refugee homes’ https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5ype8w6ynwo

(16) = haaretz.com 17 Jul 2025 ‘New Satellite Data Shows: Gaza Devastation Scale Greater Than Estimated, at Least 70 Percent of Buildings Leveled’ https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-07-17/ty-article-magazine/.premium/satellite-data-shows-at-least-70-percent-of-gaza-buildings-leveled/00000198-12de-d9c7-af98-7adffc8f0000

(17) =BBC News 18 Jul 2025 ‘Israel levelling thousands of Gaza civilian buildings in controlled demolitions’ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-33fccfbe-abcc-4af1-bdd2-632b2787cf59

(18) = timesofisrael.com 22 May 2025 ‘Netanyahu sets implementation of Trump’s Gaza relocation plan as new condition for ending war’ https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-implementation-of-trumps-gaza-relocation-plan-is-condition-for-ending-war/

(19) = Haaretz.com 04 Dec 2023 ‘Hamas Committed Documented Atrocities. But a Few False Stories Feed the Deniers, https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-12-04/ty-article-magazine/.premium/hamas-committed-documented-atrocities-but-a-few-false-stories-feed-the-deniers/0000018c-34f3-da74-afce-b5fbe24f0000

(20) = PBS / AP 22 May 2024 ‘How 2 debunked accounts of sexual violence on Oct. 7 fueled a global dispute over Israel-Hamas war’ https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/how-2-debunked-accounts-of-sexual-violence-on-oct-7-fueled-a-global-dispute-over-israel-hamas-war

(21) = https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=HD-yRuTasHU (watch from 6 minutes 37 seconds)

(22) = timesofisrael.com 233 Dec 2023 ‘IDF officer recounts ordering tank fire on Be’eri home during hostage standoff on Oct. 7’ https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-officer-recounts-ordering-tank-fire-on-beeri-home-during-hostage-standoff-on-oct-7/

(23) = jpost.com 05 Apr 2024 ‘IDF finds female Nir Oz resident likely killed by helicopter fire on October 7’ https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-795543

(24) = ABC News 06 Sep 2024 ‘Israeli forces accused of killing their own citizens under the 'Hannibal Directive' during October 7 chaos’ https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-07/israel-hannibal-directive-kidnap-hamas-gaza-hostages-idf/104224430

Why The Gaza War's Aims Are All Lies Or Impossibilities

The Israeli governments stated aims in the Gaza war are to get all hostages rescued or released, prevent an another October 7^th happening, and eliminate Hamas as a supposed threat to Israel’s existence.

Aim is Getting All Hostages Back? – A Lie

Since Hamas took hostages, as in the past, to trade them for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons, no war’s needed to get them released. And Hamas has no motive to release more hostages as long as the Israeli government says it will continue the war in Gaza to “eliminate Hamas” even if all hostages were released in more temporary ceasefires. Which is why Hamas has said, for three months now, that they’ll only resume hostage negotiations if IDF attacks on Gaza end and the IDF withdraws from Gaza (1) – (3).

Since Netanyahu says an offensive on Rafah would only be delayed, not cancelled, by further hostage releases, this also makes the stories about hostage negotiations currently progressing just propaganda, so Biden and Netanyahu can say “we tried, but Hamas rejected a ceasefire” and resume the war to replace Hamas as the government of Gaza, at any cost in the lives of civilians and children (4).

What’s more the IDF in its 4 month war , while killing over 10,000 Palestinian children, and blowing the limbs off of, and/or orphaning many more, has killed at least as many hostages as it’s rescued (three). Flooding tunnels with sea water and razing entire neighbourhoods doesn’t suggest concern for either the lives of hostages or Palestinian civilians either. The mother of one hostage whose body was found along with another hostage in a tunnel by the IDF also says the IDF won’t tell her exactly how he died and says they gassed the tunnel (5) – (7).

It's completely wrong for Hamas to hold civilians, let alone children and ill elderly people hostage. Arguably the soldiers among the hostages could be prisoners of war who it would be legitimate to exchange for Palestinian prisoners. But the Israeli government is giving it no incentive to release any of them. So it’s clear that the hostages don’t matter much to Netanyahu or senior IDF other than for their propaganda value.

And Israel has around 9000 Palestinians in its prisons, all jailed by military courts, so  little chance of a fair trial. Many haven’t had any trial at all and don’t know what they’re charged with, held indefinitely under “administrative detention”. There is much coverage of what Israeli hostages have endured, but less of Palestinian prisoners being beaten daily since October 7^th, some having bones broken, and still less of at least nine having died in the past few months, often beaten to death (8) – (13).

Aim is Preventing More October Sevenths? – A Lie

Next there’s preventing another October seventh and removing the supposedly “existential” threat Hamas poses to Israel. This again, wouldn’t require any war, as the October 7^th attacks couldn’t have happened if Netanyahu and senior IDF hadn’t dismissed multiple intelligence reports. Hamas trained for months in open air camps. Hamas TV showed a dramatization of their armed wing attacking Kibbutz and military bases near the Gaza border , and Hamas leader Yayha Sinwar in the same programme said that was exactly what Hamas were planning. Israel has plenty of aerial observation drones, observation towers on the border fence, and an entire intelligence unit of Arabic speakers who can infiltrate among Palestinians (14) – (16).

In July 2022 two Israeli military intelligence officers submitted a report titled “Hamas’ Mass Invasion Plan’ detailing pretty much everything that would happen. Their superiors dismissed it.  In the months and days before the attacks, Israeli military border observers reported greatly increased activity by armed groups, including members of them near the border fence looking at maps and pointing to parts of the fence. Their commanders ignored these reports (17) – (19).

And in the ten days before the attack Egyptian ministers repeatedly phoned Netanyahu to pass on reports from Egyptian intelligence that Gazan armed groups were planning something “big”, “unusual” and “horrible”. Despite this Netanyahu’s government made no preparations, moved two commando units from the Gaza area to the West Bank, and let most of the military go on holiday anyway (20) – (21)

Aim is “Eliminating Hamas” as “an existential threat to Israel” ? –

An impossibility and a lie

Finally there’s eliminating Hamas. Now it’s quite possible Israel, if the IDF reoccupied Gaza permanently, could remove Hamas from government in Gaza. However the Israeli government says it’s not going to have a permanent occupation, which would make that impossible.

Even IDF intelligence assesses that, after the war, Hamas will at the least continue to exist as a “terrorist or guerrilla group”, as it existed before the 2006 Palestinian Authority Legislative elections, and before Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 (Which was only done in return for the US privately telling Israel it could forget about any Palestinian state or peace process, paving the way for more settlers and Sharon and Netanyahu’s West Bank annexations) (22) – (24).

There is no way to prevent all terrorist attacks , which can be carried out with a knife, truck, car, small amounts of explosives etc. And since Hamas’ arms are mostly limited to automatic rifles, RPGs and home made rockets, it could easily smuggle more of those into Gaza and the West Bank in the long run.

On top of that there is also a Hamas presence in Lebanon (many of Hezbollah’s recruits also being the descendants of Palestinian refugees refused citizenship there) and its political leadership in Qatar.

So “eliminating Hamas” is neither possible, nor necessary to protect Israel’s existence, which, as the strongest military in the middle East, with the US superpower as an ally and the majority of Arab states at peace with and quietly allied to it for decades (Jordan, Egypt, Saudi, the majority of the “gulf monarchies), isn’t at threat.

The IDF (Israeli military or ‘Israeli Defence Forces’) has 169,000 full time troops, 400,00 reservists, hundreds of advanced combat aircraft and thousands of tanks, APCs and mobile artillery pieces, plus lots of night vision gear. Hamas and every Palestinian armed group combined, with numbers in the tens of thousands and little but automatic rifles, RPGs and some home made rockets, are not remotely capable of defeating them as every one sided Gaza war and even October 7^th once the IDF counter-attacked show (25).

Even unprepared, the IDF said on October 10^th 2023 that it had identified the bodies of 1,500 attackers killed in Israel. Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev in a later interview said 200 more burnt bodies originally thought to be victims of Hamas were found to be Hamas attackers (watch video from 6 minutes 25 seconds).The IDF also captured many of the attackers in Israel. Since it estimates the attackers numbers at 3000, that means that it killed or captured most of them in Israel, the rest fleeing back to Gaza. Hamas killed about 300 IDF soldiers on October 7^th, most just border observers, and captured a few dozen. So in Hamas’ greatest ever “success” against an IDF unprepared by its own government and senior officers ignoring intelligence reports, Hamas’ losses were 6 times the IDF’s (26) – (29).

The idea that Hamas, or every Palestinian armed group combined, could ever defeat the IDF is ludicrous. Even if Hezbollah and Iran were to get involved, Israel would still outmatch all of these combined. And the US superpower would get involved, which is another reason Iran doesn’t want to go to war with Israel.

The Real Aims of The War

The real aims of the war are first to “re-establish deterrence” as Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on 10^th October 2023,  via the Dahiya doctrine. Israeli political and military leaders believe that inflicting massive levels of casualties, suffering and destruction not just on combatants but on civilian populations and infrastructure will terrify their enemies into not attacking Israel again. Few seem to worry about it also creating hatred, anger and a desire for revenge (30).

Second to remove Hamas, as an ally of Iran, from being one half of the elected government of the Palestinian Authority, an aim of Israel and its allies since the 2006 PA legislative elections, but one which, until now, was sometimes over ridden by the wish to keep Palestinians divided.

Third to keep Netanyahu and his coalition and senior IDF officers in position in the hope public opinion will turn back in their favour after their negligence in dismissing intelligence reports.

What’s The Realistic Alternative To The Gaza War

So what is a viable way to end the conflict?

The best chance of ending terrorist attacks by Palestinians against Israelis has always been to give Palestinians their own state. While the media and politicians regularly repeat that Hamas “refuses to recognise Israel’s right to exist”, Israel has never accepted a real Palestinian state with any sovereignty had a right to exist. It’s only offers of “a state” have been one with no military, whose borders and airspace would be controlled by the Israeli military, who could enter this state’s “territory” at will.

And Hamas did repeatedly offer negotiations on a decade long truce (Hudna – usually leading to permanent peace) with Israel in return for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. A former head of Mossad, Efraim Halevy, repeatedly said Hamas knew it could never defeat Israel militarily, and Israel should try negotiations, having nothing to lose since it would remain massively militarily stronger whatever the result (31) – (34).

Shlomo Gazit, a former head of Israel’s Shin Bet military intelligence called Israeli government’s precondition of full recognition before talks even began “ridiculous or an excuse not to negotiate” (35).

And in any case, what does formal recognition matter, if there was peace rather than killing by both sides?

Since every Israeli government, of every party, seems to either oppose even a pretend Palestinian state, or oppose a real one, and Israel is massively militarily stronger than the Palestinians, the only way to get any Israeli government to accept a sovereign Palestinian state in the whole West Bank and Gaza is by external pressure – i.e boycotts of Israel products, divestment (companies stopping investing in Israel) and/or sanctions by governments. The official BDS campaign may aim at a one state solution of the type that ended South African Apartheid. But the more likely result if such a campaign was successful would be two states, so you can support a BDS campaign and support a two state solution.

Saying you “support a two state solution” while opposing any pressure on the massively stronger side to allow one is like saying you support peoples’ right to fly to America, so long as they do it only by flapping their arms.

Sources

(1) = www.theguardian.com 22 Nov2023 ‘Benjamin Netanyahu warns war will continue until Hamas is eliminated’,
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/22/gaza-ceasefire-due-to-come-into-effect-on-thursday-morning

(2) = Jerusalem Post website 20 Feb 2024 ‘US envoy heads to Israel, Egypt for talks on Rafah, Gaza hostages’,
https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-787997

(3) =  Times of Israel website 21 Dec 2023 ‘Hamas says no hostage negotiations unless fighting in Gaza stops; Israel: No chance’,
https://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-says-no-hostage-negotiations-unless-fighting-in-gaza-stops-israel-no-chance/

(4) = Times of Israel 17 Feb 2024 ‘PM: IDF will operate in Rafah even if there is a new hostage deal; can’t leave a quarter of Hamas intact’,
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/pm-stonewalls-when-asked-why-idf-didnt-enter-rafah-at-outset-of-ground-offensive/

(5) = Jerusalem Post website 16 Dec 2023 ‘Three hostages mistakenly killed by IDF fire screamed ‘help,’ held white flag’,
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-778272

(6) = Times of Israel website 30 Jan 2024 ‘IDF confirms flooding Hamas tunnels in Gaza with seawater’,
https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-confirms-flooding-hamas-tunnels-in-gaza-with-seawater/

(7) = Times Of Israel website 17 Jan 2024 ‘IDF says remains of recovered hostages show they were not killed in strike’,
https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-says-remains-of-recovered-hostages-show-they-were-not-killed-in-airstrike/

(8) = Hamoked Center For the Defense Of The Individual ‘8,926 "Security" Inmates Are Held In Prisons Inside Israel’,
https://hamoked.org/prisoners-charts.php#

(9) = B’Tselem ‘The Military Courts’,
https://www.btselem.org/topic/military_courts

(10) = B’TSelem ‘Administrative Detention’,
https://www.btselem.org/administrative_detention

(11) = BBC News 01 Dec 2023 ‘Released Palestinians allege abuse in Israeli jails’,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67581915

(12) = Times Of Israel website 21 Feb 2024 ‘Palestinian terror convict dies in Israeli custody under undisclosed circumstances’,
https://www.timesofisrael.com/palestinian-terror-convict-dies-in-israeli-custody-under-unclear-circumstances/

(13) = Times Of Israel website 21 Dec 2023 ‘Police question 19 guards in connection with fatal beating of Palestinian prisoner’,
https://www.timesofisrael.com/police-question-19-guards-in-connection-with-fatal-beating-of-palestinian-prisoner/

(14) = CNN 12 Oct 2023 ‘Hamas militants trained for its deadly attack in plain sight and less than a mile from Israel’s heavily fortified border’,
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/12/middleeast/hamas-training-site-gaza-israel-intl/index.html/

(15) = Times of Israel website 05 Dec 2023 ‘More details unveiled of IDF intel on Oct. 7 plans, consults hours before Hamas attack’,
https://www.timesofisrael.com/more-details-unveiled-of-idf-intel-on-oct-7-plans-consults-hours-before-hamas-attack/

(16) = Jewish Virtual Library ‘The Mista’arvim’
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-mista-arvim

(17) = See (15) above

(18) = Times Of Israel website 24 Nov 2023 ‘Reports: Senior IDF officer dismissed pre-Oct. 7 intel on Hamas invasion as ‘fantasy’’,
https://www.timesofisrael.com/reports-senior-idf-officer-dismissed-pre-oct-7-intel-on-hamas-invasion-as-fantasy/

(19) = Politico EU 21 Nov 2023 ‘Our warnings on Hamas were ignored, Israel’s women border troops say’,
https://www.politico.eu/article/israel-border-troops-women-hamas-warnings-war-october-7-benjamin-netanyahu/

(20) = Times Of Israel website 09 Oct 2023 ‘Egypt intelligence official says Israel ignored repeated warnings of ‘something big’’,
https://www.timesofisrael.com/egypt-intelligence-official-says-israel-ignored-repeated-warnings-of-something-big/

(21) = see (15) above

(22) = Times of Israel website 16 Feb 2024 ‘Report: IDF intel assesses that Hamas will ‘survive as terror group’ post-war’,
https://www.timesofisrael.com/report-idf-intel-assesses-that-hamas-will-survive-as-terror-group-post-war/

(23) = Haaretz website 06 Oct 2004 ‘Top PM Aide: Gaza Plan Aims to Freeze the Peace Process’,
https://www.haaretz.com/2004-10-06/ty-article/top-pm-aide-gaza-plan-aims-to-freeze-the-peace-process/0000017f-e56c-dea7-adff-f5ff1fc40000

(24) = PBS 28 Dec 2022 ‘Netanyahu’s government vows to expand West Bank settlements, annex occupied territory’,
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/netanyahus-government-vows-to-expand-west-bank-settlements-annex-occupied-territory

(25) = France 24/AP 16 Oct 2023 ‘The Israel-Hamas military balance’,
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20231016-the-israel-hamas-military-balance

(26) = France24/AFP 15 Dec 2023 ‘Israel social security data reveals true picture of Oct 7 deaths’,
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20231215-israel-social-security-data-reveals-true-picture-of-oct-7-deaths

(27) = MSNBC 16 Nov 2023 ‘That was a mistake’: Mehdi challenges Israeli adviser Mark Regev on false Israeli claims’,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD-yRuTasHU (watch from 6 minutes 25 seconds)

(28) = Times Of Israel website24 Oct 2023 ‘Kill, behead, rape: Interrogated Hamas members detail atrocities against civilians’,
https://www.timesofisrael.com/kill-behead-rape-interrogated-hamas-members-detail-atrocities-against-civilians/

(29) = Times of Israel website 01 Nov 2023 ‘IDF estimates 3,000 Hamas terrorists invaded Israel in Oct. 7 onslaught’,
https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-estimates-3000-hamas-terrorists-invaded-israel-in-oct-7-onslaught/

(30) = Times of Israel website 10 Oct 2023 ‘Gallant: Israel moving to full offense, Gaza will never go back to what it once was’,
https://www.timesofisrael.com/gallant-israel-moving-to-full-offense-gaza-will-never-go-back-to-what-it-once-was/

(31) = https://inplaceoffear.blogspot.com/2011/05/even-former-mossad-and-shin-bet-chiefs.html

(32) = Ynet news 21 Sep 2005 ‘Hamas: We'll rethink call to destroy Israel’,
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3145475,00.html

(33) = Tuastad, Dag Henrik (2010) The Hudna: Hamas's Concept of a Long-term Ceasefire, PRIO Policy Brief, 9. Oslo: PRIO.,
https://www.prio.org/publications/7356

(34) = www.independent.co.uk 10 Jun 2015 ‘It's time for Israel to talk to Hamas, says former Mossad head’,
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/it-s-time-for-israel-to-talk-to-hamas-says-former-mossad-head-10311651.html

(35) = Forward 09 Feb 2007 ‘Experts Question Wisdom of Boycotting Hamas’,
https://forward.com/news/10055/experts-question-wisdom-of-boycotting-hamas/