Palestinian Authority Daily: Hamas Is Preventing Gaza Residents From Reaching Aid Distribution Centers

Memri

2 days ago

In its June 19, 2025 editorial, the Palestinian Authority Al-Hayat Al-Jadida daily stated that Hamas is murdering and otherwise preventing Gaza residents from reaching the U.S.-backed humanitarian aid distribution centers established in the Gaza Strip. It said that "death squads" from Hamas's Al-Sahm unit[1] hunt down Gazans coming to the distribution centers, shoot at them and kill them on the pretext that they are collaborating with the distribution centers and with Israel.
The article added that Hamas does not hesitate to target Gaza residents in order to maintain its monopoly on the distribution of food and thus its control, and that Hamas steals the food aid and sells it on the black market.
To prove its argument, the article presented social media posts by Gazans accusing Hamas of murdering their loved ones when they tried to reach the distribution centers. One post was by Hiba Al-Mishal, who said that her brother Osama was murdered by a Hamas squad while he was en route to the distribution center. She wrote on her Facebook account that a squad from Hamas's Al-Sahm unit had stopped a bus her brother and some other young men were traveling on, took them outside, and shot them several times, and that they were subsequently denied medical treatment and died. She also wrote that Hamas had forced other civilians to beat them.[2]
Illustration in Hamas mouthpiece depicts execution of collaborators (Alresalah.ps, May 31, 2025)
The following are translated excerpts from the Al-Hayat Al-Jadida editorial that was published June 19, 2025. [3]
"Alongside the reports that exposed Israeli occupation forces' massacres of displaced persons looking for food, and [their] shooting at them, numerous reports out of Gaza say that Hamas is killing many civilians looking for a sack of flour on the pretext that they are collaborating with the American food distribution centers!! This is being revealed not only in reports but also in messages and [social media] posts by families whose relatives have been targeted by the treacherous Hamas.
"Examples of this include: an announcement by the Shahin family from Deir Al-Balah about [Hamas'] treacherous bullets that took the life of their son Siraj Al-Din Hisham Salameh Shahin[4]; a statement by the Al-Hilou family about five of its members being killed [5]; and a post by Hiba Al-Mishal, the sister of the murdered Osama Al-Mishal, in which she revealed that a group of Hamas members called the Al-Sahm Unit (!!!) had obstructed a bus in which her brother and several young men were traveling to one of the food distribution centers. [The Hamas members] took them off [the bus] and shot them, after 'falsely and oppressively accusing them of collaboration.' [Then, Hamas members] followed the wounded [young men] to the entrance of Nasser Hospital, where they shot them again, 'prevented the doctors and nurses from treating them, and even urged people to beat them with sticks and iron pipes. [All] this happened amid the painful silence and the worrying cooperation [of those present].' This caused the deaths of her brother and the others who were on the bus with him.
"In the post, Hiba demanded 'justice for my brother and every innocent young man killed in an oppressive manner,' writing: 'We do not want revenge – just truth and justice, because honor does not die and blood is not erased with excuses or washed away by silence.' She declared: 'All those who participated, remained silent or justified this crime are responsible before Allah, history and the mothers, sisters, daughters and wives of the slain and their families.'"
The editorial went on to emphasize: "Objectively – even if Hamas's claims are true and its accusations [of collaboration] are not unfounded – such matters should be dealt with honestly by the authorities and according to the law, and not through the death squads that Hamas is establishing, undoubtedly for the sole purpose of maintaining control of the wounded Gaza Strip.
"These are just accusations, without investigation, judges or courts, and this is how the [Hamas] militia rules, with no law, consideration or respect and esteem for people's most fundamental rights: for a crust of bread, a safe environment, or, in case of [legal] uncertainty, the right to a fair trial.
"In today's destructive crisis, Hamas has no choice but to set up death squads [to operate] against anyone who opposes its theft and tries to find a sack of flour outside its control and far from its black market... It is not only Israel that is creating this terrible reality; Hamas is complicit in this industry of death, hunting down the hungry with the death squads it calls Al-Sahm, in order to inform anyone who approaches [the distribution centers] that do not belong to Hamas that their only [fate] will be to fall victim to the arrows of the Al-Sahm Unit.
"This is the bitter reality: Hamas and its Al-Sahm Unit, which hunts down those who seek nothing but a crust of bread."