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Israeli cabinet won’t allow transfer of humanitarian aid into Gaza

The cabinet resolved that when aid is allowed through in the future, it will be with the assurance that it will not reach Hamas.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

The Israeli cabinet on Thursday decided not to permit the transfer of humanitarian aid into Gaza for the near future.

However, the cabinet resolved that when aid is allowed through in the future, it would be with the assurance that it will not reach Hamas.

During the meeting, several ministers called for an escalation of military operations in Gaza to put pressure on Hamas to release the hostages.

Transportation Minister Miri Regev told IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, “We can’t continue like this. We’re stagnating there.”

Chief of Staff Zamir replied: “I disagree with you that we are treading water. There are currently thousands of soldiers fighting in Gaza.”

Regev replied, “We must increase military pressure on Hamas so they will release the hostages.”

Israel is concerned that allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza will strengthen Hamas.

‘There were reports about a month ago that Hamas has earned as much as $500,000 by selling the humanitarian aid it looted from the international organizations. With this money, it pays salaries to its remaining members and manages to mobilize new ones,’ Professor Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies and a senior fellow at the Misgav Institute for National Security, told the TPS-IL news agency.

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According to Michael, Hamas continues to take control of at least 50 percent of all the humanitarian aid that enters Gaza.

Israel inspects the trucks carrying humanitarian aid before they enter the Gaza Strip. Once they are on the other side of the fence, they should be taken over by international organizations that distribute the aid. But these organizations cannot manage the enormous amount of aid being sent to Gaza,” Michael explained.

“Lots of trucks are being looted by Hamas even before they get into the hands of humanitarian organizations. The army recorded a conversation of two Hamas operatives in which they were complaining their warehouses are so full they don’t have where to store the aid – this is the extent of the problem,” he said.