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How the International Community Funds the Hamas War Machine

(JNS) Natan Galula - According to Eyal Ofer - a former government adviser and an expert on "Hamas economics" - shortages of food in Gaza are not due to a lack of foreign aid. Israel has opened at least five crossings into Gaza, enabling the entry of thousands of aid trucks per month, Ofer told JNS on Thursday. Images of thousands of Palestinians outside a bakery in central Gaza pressing inwards for a bag of pita bread "were completely orchestrated by Hamas," he said. "Every bakery in Gaza produces tens of thousands of bags of pita bread per day, and yet the bakery distributes only 300 bags per hour." The rest is "smuggled" to Hamas-controlled markets. Instead of selling for three shekels ($0.82) - the typical price at the bakeries - it sells for 50 or 60 shekels ($16). "Hamas intentionally created a situation of scarcity. The wheat is sent into Gaza for free in the form of international aid. Even the cooking gas used by the bakeries, I believe, is supplied by the World Food Program." Hamas hoards the supply to "create artificially high demand and thus cut higher profits than if they sold everything for lower prices. This is how you got photos on CNN of large groups of people pushing each other...for one bag of pita bread for three shekels." Ofer says Hamas exploits its power to plunder the international resources delivered into Gaza, which it uses to sustain its dictatorship.
2024-12-31 00:00:00
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