Free Republic

Hamas has been stealing for its own members at least half of the aid sent to Gaza since October 7. This is not surprising. Hamas has been stealing aid money meant for the people of Gaza ever since it took control of the Strip in 2007. Just three Hamas leaders, Khaled Meshaal, Mousa abu Marzouk, and Ismail Haniyeh, have among themselves managed to steal the colossal sum of $11 billion in aid. And while Hamas has been complaining about Israel preventing aid from reaching the Strip, it is actually Hamas that has been harming Gazans, by diverting half of the...

Heavy seas battered the U.S. maritime humanitarian mission to Gaza on Saturday, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said, with four vessels serving a floating aid delivery pier breaking free from their moorings.

Most of the aid being delivered to Gaza via the new “floating pier” constructed by the U.S. military is being stolen, according to reports. The pier, announced by President Joe Biden in his State of the Union address, was completed last week, and the Pentagon said Tuesday that 569 metric tons of aid had been brought ashore thus far. However, the Pentagon is unable to say how much, if any, of that aid has actually reached the organizations that are supposed to distribute it, as reports have emerged of Palestinians simply seizing aid from the back of delivery trucks.

"There is no food shortage in Gaza, and there never was," says an Israeli official familiar with the details. "The stores are full, the markets are bursting with goods, fruits, vegetables, shawarma, pitas - there is everything. Do you know why they no longer loot convoys? Because there is no shortage. The quantities entering are not normal."

The United States on Monday announced a $50 million aid program for Gaza, reports The Associated Press (AP). American officials quoted by the news agency said that the money will be used over five years to provide basic humanitarian assistance and create jobs in the coastal enclave. The money will be distributed by the U.S Agency for International Development in partnership with Catholic Relief Services. The U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem, Donald A. Blume, said the effort is meant to address "the dire needs that are obvious in Gaza", according to the AP report. Gaza's economy has sharply declined since...