Greg Bouwer
IINZ
Since October 7, 2023, the humanitarian situation in Gaza has become a global rallying cry. Images of rubble, starving children, and overcrowded hospitals have sparked a wave of international sympathy, catalysing mass protests, UN emergency sessions, and calls for Israel to halt its war effort. Governments, NGOs, and media outlets alike have pointed the finger squarely at Jerusalem, accusing it of orchestrating a deliberate siege with genocidal intent.
But this dominant narrative is not only misleading – it is dangerously divorced from fact. It omits critical context, ignores hard evidence, and obscures the real source of Palestinian suffering: Hamas, not Israel, is the primary obstacle to humanitarian relief in Gaza. And disturbingly, powerful institutions like the United Nations have chosen complicity over clarity – helping perpetuate the very crisis they claim to want to solve.
Israel’s Aid Record: Facts Ignored
In the months following Hamas’s October 7 massacre – in which 1,200 Israelis were brutally murdered and over 250 kidnapped – Israel launched a military campaign to both free the hostages and dismantle the terrorist infrastructure entrenched within Gaza. Even amid this war, Israel has facilitated the entry of over 250,000 tons of humanitarian aid via more than 12,000 trucks through crossings like Kerem Shalom and Nitzana. The volume and consistency of this aid flow have been verifiable, coordinated with the UN and international partners.
Moreover, Israel has enabled airdrops of more than 10,000 pallets of humanitarian supplies, supported by the United States, France, Jordan, Egypt, and the UAE. A US-built floating pier also enabled deliveries of aid by sea – over 6,000 tons – directly to Gaza’s coast. Israel has paused operations, opened humanitarian corridors, and accepted significant security risk to screen shipments for weapons and dual-use items – a necessity when dealing with a regime like Hamas.
These are not the actions of a country seeking to starve a population. Yet international condemnation continues to rain down on Israel, while Hamas’s obstruction, theft, and terrorisation of civilians receives a deafening silence.
Hamas’s War on Aid
If so much aid is entering Gaza, why does starvation persist?
The answer is grim and well-documented: Hamas systematically steals and diverts aid. Gunmen intercept convoys, violently seize supplies, and reroute them to merchants loyal to the group. These goods are resold at inflated prices, enriching Hamas’s coffers while impoverishing the very people the aid was meant to help.
Eyewitnesses in Gaza have reported watching Hamas fighters commandeer trucks and shoot at civilians near distribution points. Videos show armed looting and systematic exploitation. One Gazan told Israel Hayom:
Hamas steals the aid and resells it to merchants, who set the prices they want at the expense of the entire population.
This is not opportunistic corruption – it is a deliberate policy. Israeli intelligence and independent media alike confirm that Hamas operates a centralised black-market aid economy, designed to keep the population dependent and the leadership flush with cash. Aid theft is not a bug in the system: it is the system.
UNRWA and the United Nations: Complicity in Collapse
Rather than confront this reality, the United Nations – particularly UNRWA – has enabled it. Not only have several UNRWA employees been exposed as having participated in the October 7 massacre, but its facilities have also been used to store weapons, shield Hamas fighters, and conceal tunnel entrances. Textbooks distributed by UNRWA glorify terrorism, and staff have promoted antisemitic content with impunity.
Instead of reforming, the UN has responded to these revelations with denials, internal suppression of findings, and scapegoating. Rather than defending Palestinian civilians, it has defended its institutional credibility – even if that means shielding Hamas from accountability.
The UN, the PA, and Hamas: A Shared Interest in Failure
A deeper, more disturbing pattern is emerging: key stakeholders have a vested interest in keeping effective, transparent humanitarian aid out of Gaza.
- The UN doesn’t want alternative aid mechanisms to succeed because doing so would expose its inefficiency, politicisation, and loss of control. If non-UN actors can deliver aid more effectively, then what is the UN’s purpose?
- The Palestinian Authority opposes the new initiative because it is being run by entities that expose its own failures. The PA fears being held accountable for decades of mismanagement and corruption.
- Hamas, unsurprisingly, sees direct aid delivery as an existential threat. Without control of the aid economy, Hamas loses its grip on power, its revenue streams, and its ability to coerce the population.
This triad of obstruction came to a head with an astonishing act of sabotage.
A Grave Breach: The UN Blacklists NGOs for Helping Gaza
In a shocking and under-reported development, a number of major international NGOs made the principled decision to participate in a new, independent aid initiative that bypasses Hamas and UN intermediaries to deliver food directly to Gazan civilians. The goal was simple: cut out the middlemen, protect the aid, and feed the people.
Instead of supporting this, the UN removed those NGOs from its central aid coordination database — a system created and endorsed by a UN General Assembly resolution to track all humanitarian deliveries into Gaza.
This is not mere red tape. This is institutional sabotage. By removing the NGOs from the database, the UN effectively blacklisted them, undermining their ability to coordinate deliveries, access resources, and remain part of the broader aid framework.
This is the gravest violation of the UN’s own humanitarian principles. And it aligns the UN – knowingly or not – with Hamas’s interests.
While Hamas attacks these new aid distribution centres, the UN says nothing. It issues no condemnation, no warning, no advocacy. The message is unmistakable: if you try to help Gazans without Hamas’s approval, we will stop you.
A Crisis of Moral Clarity
We are witnessing not just a humanitarian crisis – but a crisis of conscience. The world demands that Israel fight a genocidal enemy with surgical precision, while refusing to demand even the most basic accountability from Hamas. It condemns Israel for civilian deaths – even when those civilians are used as human shields – but ignores when Hamas stores rockets in hospitals and fires from schoolyards.
Worse, the same institutions that claim to champion Palestinian rights now collaborate with the regime that oppresses Palestinians the most.
If the international community truly cared about Gaza’s civilians, it would:
- Condemn Hamas for stealing aid and using human shields,
- Hold Qatar accountable for funding Hamas’s terror,
- Demand the UN purge its agencies of terror collaborators,
- Support independent aid initiatives that reach civilians directly.
It would recognise that the root cause of suffering in Gaza is not the Israeli blockade, but Hamas’s tyranny – and that removing Hamas from power is the only path to lasting relief.
Conclusion
Israel is not the reason Gazans are starving. Hamas is. And those who enable Hamas – through funding, silence, or diplomatic cover – share in the moral burden of Gaza’s suffering.
The evidence is overwhelming. The moral responsibility is clear. It is time for the international community to stop blaming the one nation trying to help civilians under fire – and instead confront the terrorist regime that thrives on their suffering.
This article was originally published by the Israel Institute of New Zealand.
