Analysis
Israel can’t be expected to sustain terrorists intent on its destruction
If not handled correctly, aid will be less about saving civilians than saving Hamas
May 20, 2025 14:28
4 min read
If not handled correctly, aid will be less about saving civilians than saving Hamas
May 20, 2025 14:28Up until Sunday night, it was a split-screen reality. On one side was the Israeli media, which follows every development in the hostage talks in Doha while speculating over the next stage of the ground offensive in Gaza, and debating what Hamas looks like now that Mohammed Sinwar – the group’s most recent leader – has been eliminated.
On the other side was the international press, which for the most part ignores all of that. Instead, it has spent the past few weeks zeroing in on a single story: the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Each day brought a new headline and condemnation. French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, and now even US President Donald Trump have joined the chorus, the latter saying on Friday that “people are starving” in Gaza.
Since the beginning of the war, humanitarian aid has been one of the thorniest issues for Israel. Understandably, in the immediate aftermath of the October 7 massacre, Israel’s focus was on defending itself and bringing the war to Hamas. But within days, the Biden administration began pressuring Israel to reopen crossings and allow truckloads of food, fuel and supplies into the Strip. That much of that aid ended up in Hamas’s hands made little difference to Washington or Europe. And that’s what happened – with one hand, Israel struck Hamas targets and hunted its leaders and with the other, it sent in food and fuel, effectively helping to sustain the very terrorist group it was trying to destroy.
It was a demand that no nation would make of itself. Imagine if, in the aftermath of 9/11, as the US Air Force bombed caves where Osama bin Laden was believed to be hiding, someone had asked President George W Bush to halt operations so food convoys could reach al-Qaeda fighters. Would America have agreed? Of course not. Yet when it comes to Israel, a double standard was imposed from the outset – one that has extended the war, strengthened Hamas and blurred the line between war-making and nation-building.
Opponents of ongoing aid – primarily from the parties of Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich – have long argued that as long as Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, and as long as they too are starving, Israel has no moral or strategic reason to resupply its enemy. It is important to note that under international law, Israel’s actions are permitted and there is no legal obligation to provide supplies if they are known to reach the enemy.
But the world does not seem to care. And the reports from Gaza have grown more dire each day. IDF officers admit that food stocks in the Strip are dangerously low and could run out within days. There is risk of a humanitarian collapse.
Inside Israel, views are mixed, and as seen by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s backflip decision late Sunday night suddenly to allow aid into Gaza after promising that not a gram of flour would go in, a real strategy for how to win this war remains elusive. The government continues to lack a coherent plan to achieve its stated goals: return the hostages and eliminate Hamas. No one – not in Israel, not in the West – truly wants Hamas to remain in power. What Netanyahu explained on Monday is that in order to win the war, Israel needs international legitimacy and if Gaza descends into full-blown humanitarian crisis, that will be lost. Without US backing, he said, further military operations will become nearly impossible to sustain.
Thankfully, there is broad international consensus around one basic principle: Hamas must not control the aid. Everyone understands that if Hamas is allowed to handle distribution, the aid will become yet another lifeline – prolonging the group’s rule and undercutting the very goals of the war. This is why Israel and the US have spent the last few weeks constructing a network of aid distribution centres in Gaza. The goal is to bypass Hamas. Civilian contractors from the US and international NGOs are expected to manage the distribution to the population working with pre-approved Palestinian representatives. This is not perfect but it is a necessary workaround.
Will it end differently this time as opposed to the first year of this war when Israel was operating in all of Gaza and was inserting aid at the same time? It is hard to know since without a political resolution and a new governing entity in place to take over Gaza, we could very well end up back at square one in just a few weeks. In addition, what will happen if suddenly Hamas agrees to a partial hostage deal? While that would see some of the living hostages return home, what about the rest?
Which is why this needs to be handled with precision. If the aid reaches civilians, it could bolster international support and shorten the conflict. If it reaches Hamas, it will do the opposite – prolong the war and feed the very forces Israel seeks to dismantle. That is why world leaders such as Trump, Macron and Starmer must resist populist urges. This is a moment that demands nuance and strategic clarity. If not handled correctly, aid will become less about saving civilians and more about saving Hamas.
When it comes to aid, part of the challenge for Israelis is that it is impossible to separate the emotions from the issue. They still see themselves – rightly – as the victims of this war. With 58 hostages still in captivity, it is difficult for the nation to move past the massacre on October 7, even 19 months later. That does not mean Israelis are indifferent to the suffering of Palestinian civilians. But when a people still feels wounded, it is hard to see someone else’s pain. Harder is to accept lectures from a world that seems to forget who started this war and who is still holding the hostages. Humanitarian aid is important. But so is moral consistency. And if the world wants this war to end, it must ensure that its interventions do not end up sustaining the very terrorists that need to be erased from this earth.
Yaakov Katz is co-author of the forthcoming book ‘While Israel Slept’ about the October 7 Hamas attacks, a senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute and a former editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post