
How Gaza's aid crisis broke Hamas and starved the Strip
The aid delivery plan overseen by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has proved a blood-soaked catastrophe. The Gazan health authorities report that hundreds of people have been killed by gunfire as they queue for food at the GHF aid points controlled by Israeli troops and American contractors.
It has also caused Hamas's worst financial crisis in decades, Israeli officials report.
The terror group has been unable to pay its fighters or repair its network of tunnels and hideouts beneath the Strip. Cash shortages have also left Hamas reportedly unable to pay salaries for police or ministry employees.
Money reserves amassed before, or during the early stages of, the war have run short, while Israeli strikes have devastated the leadership and fractured its grip on the besieged territory.
Hamas for years received large sums from Iran, Qatar and others, and was also able to tax cross-border commerce.
Israel has long alleged that Hamas also made money by seizing and selling international aid entering Gaza, though this has been denied by the United Nations and aid agencies.
That income ended, officials say, when Israel imposed a blockade in March, and then began using the GHF, set up jointly by the US and Israel, to run aid hubs and bypass UN-run distributions.
The UN, the European Commission and major international aid organisations have said they have no evidence that Hamas has systematically stolen their aid. The Israeli government has not provided proof.
Twenty-eight countries including Britain, this week condemned the new aid arrangements, amid widespread reports of starvation, and hundreds of people being shot as they tried to get food.
The countries' joint statement described as 'horrifying' the recent deaths of over 800 Palestinians who were seeking aid, according to the figures released by Gaza's Health Ministry, which is run by Hamas, and the UN human rights office.
'The Israeli government's aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,' the countries said.
'The Israeli government's denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable.'
Palestinian health officials have said at least 101 people have died of hunger during the conflict, most of them in recent weeks.
Food that does arrive in the coastal Strip is often sold and resold at extortionate prices, said Rabiha Abdel Aziz, a 75-year-old mother of nine living in a displacement camp in western Gaza.
'I don't know how people can eat,' she told The Telegraph, explaining that the family can no longer even afford a kilo of flour, which currently costs £26.
She said: 'My grandchildren wake up in the morning and ask me for a piece of bread that we don't have...Where will we get the money to buy food at this price? We are dying of hunger and bombing.'
'People collapse in the streets'
Salem Jehad, a father of four who is living in a camp west of Gaza city, said he was unable to find milk for his newborn son.
He said: 'All my children have lost half their weight, and I am the same. Most people don't have money.
'Two years without work during the war, with the crossings closed and aid entering scarcely, people are collapsing in the streets from weakness and hunger. We drink water with salt to satisfy our hunger.'
Mr Jehad said access to food had dramatically worsened since GHF took over the distribution and he wanted a return to the previous UN-run model.
The UN said on Tuesday that Israeli forces had killed more than 1,000 Palestinians trying to get food aid in Gaza since the GHF began operations in May.
Aid distributions have been marred by chaotic scenes and frequent reports of Israeli forces firing on people waiting to collect rations.
Israel's military has disputed previous death tolls, but has said its troops have at times fired warning shots, and it is investigating accusations of civilian deaths.
Mr Jehad said: 'Now we are running into death traps. Gazans are dying to bring a kilo of flour and rice.
Hamas's mistake over 'strategy of suffering'
Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, who leads the Realign for Palestine lobby group, said that Hamas had counted on the humanitarian crisis to bring the war to an end.
He told the Post: 'Hamas's strategy relied on the suffering of Gazans.
'But when this strategy failed, it foolishly doubled down on this approach, in large part because it had nothing else in its toolbox to deal with Israel's ferocious reaction to Oct 7 and the world's inability to stop it.'
Lior Akerman, the head of national resilience at the Institute for Policy and Strategy (IPS) at Reichman University, and a former chief of staff in Shin Bet, Israel's MI5, said Hamas had 'almost completely disintegrated in the Gaza Strip'.
He said: 'All the senior commanders were killed and all the frameworks of the fighting disintegrated.
'Today, in the absence of commanders, Hamas members in the Gaza Strip are operating like independent, armed militias.
'In every area, the terrorists continue to do the best they can with the weapons they possess, and they are effectively waging a guerrilla war against the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
'This type of fighting could last for years and wear down the IDF in a never-ending war.'
Truce negotiations held up
Israel and Hamas are holding indirect talks in Doha aimed at reaching a 60-day truce and a hostage release deal.
But there has been no sign of a deal yet, and discussions have reportedly been held up by Hamas's negotiators in Doha being unable to reach representatives in Gaza since late last week.
Ronen Solomon, an Israeli intelligence analyst, said as Hamas had been degraded in Gaza, the group's centre of gravity had shifted to abroad.
He said that with only Izz ad-Din al-Haddad, commander of the Gaza City Brigade, remaining as a senior figure in Gaza, 'a dramatic change has occurred'.
'The centre of gravity shifted from the Strip to Hamas abroad,' he said. 'And in particular to Khalil al-Khayya, who was very much involved in the planning of Oct 7 and continues to lead an extremist line from the Hamas base in Qatar.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Independent
14 minutes ago
- The Independent
Starmer to hold emergency talks on Gaza with France and Germany
The Prime Minister has said he will hold emergency talks with France and Germany on Gaza, as he condemned the 'suffering and starvation' unfolding there as 'unspeakable and indefensible'. Sir Keir Starmer said the situation has been 'grave' for some time but has 'reached new depths'. It comes as aid groups warn of starvation in the Gaza Strip and the US said it was cutting short ceasefire talks. Sir Keir is also under increasing pressure to fulfil Labour's promise to recognise Palestine as a state. The Prime Minister said: 'The suffering and starvation unfolding in Gaza is unspeakable and indefensible. 'While the situation has been grave for some time, it has reached new depths and continues to worsen. We are witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe. 'I will hold an emergency call with E3 partners tomorrow, where we will discuss what we can do urgently to stop the killing and get people the food they desperately need, while pulling together all the steps necessary to build a lasting peace. 'We all agree on the pressing need for Israel to change course and allow the aid that is desperately needed to enter Gaza without delay.' He said it is 'hard to see a hopeful future in such dark times' but called again for all sides to engage 'in good faith, and at pace' on a ceasefire and the release of all hostages. 'We strongly support the efforts of the US, Qatar and Egypt to secure this,' he said. Weeks of talks in Qatar to try to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have yielded no major breakthroughs. Steve Witkoff, the Trump administration's special envoy, said on Thursday the US was cutting short Gaza ceasefire talks and sending home its negotiating team after the latest response from Hamas 'shows a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire in Gaza'. The deal under discussion is expected to include a 60-day ceasefire in which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and the remains of 18 others in phases in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Aid supplies would be ramped up and the two sides would hold negotiations on a lasting truce. Sir Keir said on Thursday that a ceasefire would provide a pathway to recognising a Palestinian state, as he faces calls to do so immediately. 'We are clear that statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people. 'A ceasefire will put us on a path to the recognition of a Palestinian state and a two-state solution which guarantees peace and security for Palestinians and Israelis,' he said. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said earlier that the Government was 'deeply committed' to recognition but that such a move would need to be 'meaningful'. Mr Reynolds told LBC Radio: 'Now, at the minute, there is not a Palestinian state there. There is no political agreement between the two principal Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Gaza.' He pointed to steps the UK has taken to ramp up pressure on Israel, including sanctioning two Israeli cabinet ministers and ending trade talks with Israel. 'And we do want to see Palestine recognised. I want that to be meaningful. I want that to be working with partners, other countries around the world.' French President Emmanuel Macron pressed for recognition of Palestinian statehood in a recent address to the UK's Parliament, saying it was the 'only path to peace'. Labour's London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan has piled pressure on Sir Keir to 'immediately recognise Palestinian statehood' and said the UK 'must do far more to pressure the Israeli government to stop this horrific senseless killing'. The Trades Union Congress also called for formal recognition of Palestine 'not in a year's time or two years' time – but now'. 'Recognition is not a symbolic gesture. It is a necessary and practical step towards a viable two-state solution that delivers equal rights and democracy, this is the only credible path to a just and lasting peace, ending decades of occupation, violence, and displacement,' the TUC said. Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has called for the Royal Air Force to carry out airdrops of aid into Gaza. 'Aid delivered by the air is no substitute for the reopening of supply routes by land,' he said. 'But the extent of the humanitarian catastrophe we are now witnessing requires us to leave no stone unturned in our efforts to get aid to Gazans.' More than 100 organisations, including Doctors Without Borders and Save the Children, have put their names to an open letter in which they said they were watching their own colleagues, as well as the Palestinians they serve, 'waste away'. It comes as the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, described the situation in Gaza as 'a stain on the conscience of the international community'. He said: 'With each passing day in Gaza, the violence, starvation and dehumanisation being inflicted on the civilian population by the government of Israel becomes more depraved and unconscionable.' Hamas-led militants based in Gaza abducted 251 people in the October 7 attack in 2023 that triggered the war and killed about 1,200 people. Fewer than half of the 50 hostages still in Gaza are believed to be alive.


The Guardian
15 minutes ago
- The Guardian
No fear or favours: how Corbyn and Sultana's party could blow up British politics
New political parties have a patchy record in British politics. Take Change UK, which launched amid much fanfare in the spring of 2019 and had disbanded by the end of the same year. So can Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana fare any better? In part it depends on the question you ask. The new and as-yet unnamed leftwing party formally announced by Corbyn and his fellow ex-Labour MP on Thursday, has one major advantage at its disposal: the former Labour leader's very strong public profile. According to a rolling YouGov poll of politicians' name recognition, Corbyn is known by 98% of voters, more than Keir Starmer or Nigel Farage. 'Everyone knows who Jeremy Corbyn is, everyone knows who he stands for. And with any new party, that is not even half the battle. It's three-quarters of the battle,' said Robert Ford, a professor of political science at Manchester University. 'A lot of people don't like what he stands for, but that doesn't matter, because he's not aiming for everyone.' That is the second likely advantage for the organisation, launched under the interim title of 'Your Party'. Unlike Change UK, a collection of centrist MPs who defected from Labour and the Conservatives, or indeed unlike Corbyn's task when he led Labour, there is no need to temper opinions to court the middle ground. Co-led by Corbyn and Sultana, the party is explicitly aiming itself at left-leaning voters who until now are likely to have backed Labour, the Greens or the collection of Gaza-focused independents who saw off Labour candidates in four constituencies in last year's election. 'With the best will in the world, not even Zarah Sultana, I suspect, is expecting Jeremy Corbyn to be the next prime minister,' Ford said. 'That's not the purpose of it. The purpose of it is to offer an outlet for those who think Labour have driven too far to the right. So he doesn't have the same problem that he and his advisers had a few years ago.' Polling before the party launched suggested it could gather as much as 10% of the vote nationally. However, new parties traditionally struggle to maintain momentum, and turning polls into votes relies on building an effective campaign machine, which is tricky to do from scratch. All this could make for a complex picture at a constituency level, with Ford noting that it could variously make electoral life harder or easier for Labour MPs, depending on the location and context. For example, even a 5% haul for a Corbyn-Sultana candidate could mean the difference between Labour win or a loss to the Conservatives or Reform UK. The new venture could also scupper the Greens in their hopes of taking seats from Labour in the 40 areas where they finished second in 2024, given its likely appeal to some Green voters. The Greens have dismissed the opening statement from the new party for making 'only a passing glance to the climate crisis', saying this left them stuck in the past, and it is possible that Corbyn's main electoral hunting ground will be voters sympathetic to the Gaza-focused independents. The only Labour response has been a brief and scathing party source quote about the electorate having 'twice given its verdict on a Jeremy Corbyn-led party', in the 2017 and 2019 elections. But the new party is different in its aims, and, politically, 2025 is not 2019. An ostensibly new party, Reform UK, is leading the polls, even if it is Nigel Farage's third incarnation of Ukip, which can trace its history back more than 30 years. And voter loyalties, which were once relatively fixed, are more fluid than ever. One thing, however, is constant: the identity of the co-protagonist. Corbyn has a name, but also political baggage, and a reputation for occasional prickliness and falling out with people. The launch of the new party has been slightly stumbling, with allies of Corbyn making plain their annoyance when Sultana announced herself as co-leader of a new group in June. It is also unusual to launch a new party without having agreed on a name. Can Corbyn and Sultana confound the historical odds? To an extent it doesn't entirely matter. In the currently fragmented multiparty world, even moderate success could have a disproportionate impact.


Telegraph
15 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Starmer: Palestinians have inalienable right to statehood
Sir Keir Starmer has said the Palestinian people have an 'inalienable right' to a state of their own. The Prime Minister made the comment on Thursday evening as he came under growing pressure from Labour MPs over the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza. In a statement, Sir Keir also condemned the 'unspeakable and indefensible' suffering in the strip and called it a 'humanitarian catastrophe'. The Labour Government backs Palestinian statehood but has argued for months that it should be formally recognised at the right moment to further peace in the region. The statement falls short of a promise to declare Palestinian statehood – something the French are pushing to be done next month. Sir Keir said: 'We are clear that statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people. A ceasefire will put us on a path to the recognition of a Palestinian state and a two-state solution which guarantees peace and security for Palestinians and Israelis.' Cabinet ministers have reportedly been pushing privately for Sir Keir to announce UK recognition while Sir Sadiq Khan, Labour's London mayor, publicly joined the calls this week. Pressure on Sir Keir is likely to intensify after Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana launched a new hard-left party to challenge Sir Keir. The pair have accused the Government of enabling genocide and are expected to link up with several independent pro-Gaza MPs. A UN conference on the issue, planned for June but delayed by the Israel-Iran war, is now due to take place next week. Critics of immediate recognition have said that it should not happen until Hamas is removed from any leadership role in Gaza and all Israeli hostages are released. Israel's government has characterised any recognition by the UK and France as a 'reward' for Hamas 's Oct 7 atrocities. The US had been leading efforts to broker a Gaza ceasefire in recent months but Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, cut them off on Thursday. He said the US was bringing home its negotiators, saying Hamas 'clearly shows a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire'. Mr Witkoff added that the US would now 'consider alternative options to bring the hostages home', without clarifying what they would be.