According to a new report, the terrorist-backed group Hamas is seizing food supplies from Gazan civilians and selling it on the black market for extraordinary prices.
The editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post Zvika Klein told a senior Israeli defense official that Hamas is exaggerating the country’s food shortage, saying that every family has enough food to survive. However, Klein pointed out that Hamas is using the supply to its advantage.
“The food shortage and use of the word ‘hunger’ have been exaggerated,” the defense official told Klein. He said that the food Israel has shipped to Gaza has “immediately been taken by Hamas terrorists, who then sell some of the supplies for ten times more than what it’s worth.”
The official reportedly told Klein that gangs working for Hamas seize the food and aid supplies that are delivered by Israel and the United States at gunpoint. He said that there are people in Gaza who are going hungry because they can't afford to pay the price that Hamas is selling it for on the black market.
“There are those who are hungry since Hamas has taken all of the food and they don’t have enough money to pay Hamas on the black market,” he said. “The situation in Gaza is akin to hunger in New York, where homeless people suffer not from a lack of food but from a lack of money to purchase it … This condition reinforces [Hamas’] narrative, portraying hunger as a consequence of external forces and legitimizing their control.”
The defense official said that the terrorist group has shot down food drops from the U.S., Jordan, and the UAE to promote their propaganda that its citizens are starving.
On Thursday, President Joe Biden announced that an emergency pier will be built off of the coast of Gaza to deliver aid.
The pier, built by US military members, will receive “large ships carrying food, water, medicine.”
“I’m directing the U.S. military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the Gaza coast that can receive large ships carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters," Biden said, adding “No U.S. boots will be on the ground. This temporary pier would enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza every day. But Israel must also do its part."
Biden called on Israel to continue delivering aid to Gaza and “ensure that humanitarian workers aren’t caught in the crossfire."
The Biden Administration said that this is the “most efficient, cost-effective" option.