A US-based Palestinian Arab activist has accused Hamas of deliberately hiding tons of baby formula and nutritional shakes meant for children in Gaza, worsening starvation to advance its political narrative, the New York Post reports.
Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a vocal anti-Hamas activist, shared footage on social media showing a warehouse allegedly belonging to the Hamas-run Gaza “Ministry of Health”, stacked with packages of infant formula and nutritional shakes.
“During the worst of the days of the hunger crisis in Gaza in the past six months, Hamas deliberately hid literal tons of infant formula and nutritional shakes for children by storing them in clandestine warehouses belonging to the Gaza Ministry of Health,” Alkhatib wrote on social media.
He added, “The goal, as I said then, was to worsen the hunger crisis and initiate a disaster as part of the terror group’s famine narrative in a desperate effort to stop Israel’s onslaught against Gaza and force the return of the UN’s aid distribution mechanism, and away from the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).”
Warnings of famine in Gaza intensified after a temporary ceasefire collapsed in March, prompting Israel to block humanitarian aid. Images of starvation soon spread worldwide, leading the US to establish the GHF to distribute food.
The program quickly became controversial, plagued by shootings and deaths near distribution centers. Hamas reportedly warned Palestinian Arabs not to approach GHF sites, further deepening the crisis.
Footage published by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) showed Hamas terrorists looting a humanitarian aid truck in northern Khan Yunis.
The truck was part of an international humanitarian convoy delivering essential aid to civilians during the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Alkhatib accused Hamas of exploiting the suffering of civilians, saying the group used locals as collateral in its fight against Israel.
“You can have compassion for the real suffering of the Palestinian civilians of Gaza, and demand Israeli action to facilitate aid entry into the coastal enclave, while still holding Hamas accountable for its part in causing a hunger and starvation crisis in the first place,” he said.