Israel’s defense officials believe Hamas control over Gaza is slipping, helped by new aid system

Israeli defense officials believe Hamas is losing control of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, as a new aid distribution system ramps up its activities in an effort to prevent the terror group from controlling the aid and the Gazan population.

Three out of four aid distribution sites began their activities in Gaza this week, with the Israel and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation handing out tens of thousands of packages of food to Palestinians. The distribution sites can feed 1.2 million Palestinians, according to Israeli officials.

“The barrier of fear from Hamas has been broken. Hamas repeatedly tried to break the population and resist the distribution plan to preserve its ability to control food and, consequently, the residents of the Gaza Strip,” a defense official tells reporters.

“The residents of the Strip voted with their feet against Hamas and flocked en masse to the distribution centers, thereby breaking an initial barrier of public fear from Hamas, which undermines its governing component needed to preserve its ruling capabilities,” the official says.

According to the official, the new aid distribution system is intended first to cut Hamas off from the aid — as it is no longer involved in the distribution process — and secondly to cut the population off from Hamas, potentially collapsing the terror group’s civil rule in the Strip, which is one of Israel’s war goals.

The official slams “many elements within Hamas and UN organizations that defame and hope for the failure of the aid distribution plan via the distribution centers.”

“These elements have united and share a common narrative and goal: Preserving Hamas’s governmental and economic ability to take control of the aid intended for the population,” the official says.

Hamas carried out a propaganda campaign in recent months against the new aid distribution system, and also tried to threaten civilians who sought to head to the sites, according to the official.

“There are early signs of the success of the strategy and method, as a turning point; the aid distribution centers are an extraordinary success,” the official claims. “This is a process of continuous learning and adaptation, a process of shaping the course.”

“Elements in Gaza and within Hamas are trying to create chaos and disorder to sabotage our efforts and drive a psychological campaign and generate a false narrative,” the official adds.

The UN, which Israel recognizes as a “key player” in Gaza’s humanitarian situation, is opposed to and has publicly objected to the new aid system, the official says, adding that recently the UN has been uncooperative in collecting aid from the Kerem Shalom Crossing to distribute it in the Strip.

UN officials and aid groups say they have faced significant challenges distributing the aid because of insecurity, the risk of looting, and coordination issues with Israeli authorities.

Of the 238 trucks of aid that set out from Kerem Shalom to be distributed in Gaza in recent days, 135 were looted, according to military estimates. The looting was largely carried out by civilians, and in some cases, armed gangs who had no affiliation with Hamas, the defense official said, underlining the terror group’s weakened control.

According to the official, to enable the UN to collect and distribute the aid entering Gaza, the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) held meetings with UN officials, and several adjustments were made to the transportation routes — some of which had gone through combat zones — and other logistical solutions were provided.

Still, COGAT has accused the UN of failing to collect over 550 truckloads of aid waiting on the Gaza side of Kerem Shalom Crossing.