Context, Facts and accusations #

The following are contextual points and data regarding the food crisis in Gaza, collected mostly by Danny Orbach, Johnathan Boxman, Yagil Henkin, and Jonathan Braverman. I only mention here the points I found most important. Their full report is amazing and you should read the whole piece: https://besacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Debunking-final-updated-12.5.2026WEB.pdf

In 2022, an average of 73 food trucks entered the Gaza Strip every day. Additionally, 24 trucks of animal feed and livestock feed entered daily, equivalent to five trucks of human food. Allowing for the role of local agriculture in addition to the animal feed (8 trucks) brings us to 86 trucks

Considering that about 100,000 Gaza residents fled to Egypt at the start of the fighting, the number of trucks needed to meet the food needs of Gaza’s population at pre-war levels drops to 82 trucks per day

Between October 7, 2023 and January 17, 2025, a total of 1,011,575 tons of food were transferred into Gaza, according to COGAT. An average of 102 food trucks entered Gaza daily - meaning starvation was neither used nor attempted by Israel as a war tactic, regardless of what people may or may not say.

What did happen during the war was that people with power (Hamas officials) used the situation to artificially create hunger in certain parts of the Strip, in order to benefit their friends and fight against political enemies. So you can see government officials taxing any incoming food truck and then saving the surplus for themselves or their allies.

As one of Israel's goals in the war was the removal of Hamas from power, we quickly understood that as long as Hamas remained responsible for distributing the food entering Gaza it would only gain more power and support. No sane Gazan would go against the gatekeepers of their food supply. That led Israel to try to find ways to distribute food directly to civilians. The project was not a great success although I think we did our best.

With this context we should try to understand the text

The article itself #

Israeli minister says it may be ‘moral’ to starve 2 million Gazans, but ‘no one in the world would let us’

Crazy headline. The problem is that this is not exactly what he said. The full quote appears in the next line.

Jerusalem — Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said “it may be just and moral” to starve 2 million Gaza residents until Israeli hostages are returned, but “no one in the world would let us.”

That sounds more accurate. In the original text and clarification Smotrich emphasized that, in his opinion it is immoral to provide food trucks into Gaza at this time. Hamas becomes stronger and is able to continue fighting for longer.

In a speech on Monday at the Katif Conference for National Responsibility in the town of Yad Binyamin, the far-right minister said Israel should take control of distributing aid inside Gaza and claimed that Hamas was in control of distribution channels within the strip.

The next line adds even more context to the story. Smotrich is not against Gazans being well fed, but against their government using the food and support to prolong the war.

“It is impossible in today’s global reality to wage war – no one in the world would let us starve and thirst two million citizens, even though it may be just and moral until they return our hostages,” he said, adding that if Israel controlled aid distribution instead of Hamas, the war would have ended by now and the hostages would have returned.

That's a sound claim. War and suffering are prolonged because Hamas controls incoming food in Gaza. That is very different from a call to starve people.

“You cannot fight Hamas with one hand and give them aid with the other. It’s his (Hamas’) money, it’s his fuel, it’s his civilian control of the Gaza Strip. It just doesn’t work,” he said.

Israel has control over aid that enters Gaza and aid groups are in charge of distributing it. While there have been some anecdotal reports from Gazans of Hamas stealing aid, it’s unclear how rampant it is. US Special Envoy David Satterfield said in February that no Israeli official had presented him or the Biden administration with “specific evidence of diversion or theft of assistance.”

"Stealing" is not the right word. More honest to say that Hamas is the government and they are in charge of the distribution within Gaza. They don't need to steal; it's their land.

Israel is facing mounting criticism from aid groups and international organizations for restricting food aid to the besieged Gaza Strip. A United Nations statement, citing independent experts, indicated last month that famine has spread across the entire enclave. The experts accused Israel of conducting an “intentional and targeted starvation campaign,” which they termed a “form of genocidal violence.”

Hamas and its allies are running a huge propaganda campaign. We already established in the beginning that no famine or starvation is taking place, and besides that's not even what Smotrich said.

The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on charges of “starvation as a weapon of war,” among other allegations.

Yes there's a global campaign still happening. I have never seen anything like that and I must confess it is terrifying.

I asked ChatGPT: "we're in Aug 26 run a diagnosis how many of Gaza population should have died of hunger if it were real? how many did?". It replied it expected 6,350 deaths from July 1 through August 15, 2025.

OCHA reported that by August 13, 2025, Gaza's Ministry of Health had recorded 235 malnutrition-related deaths since October 2023, of which 170 had occurred since July 1, 2025. That figure covers the entire Gaza Strip, not just Gaza Governorate.

Famine in a population of 2 million people does not cause 170 deaths.

Netanyahu has strongly denied the allegations, saying they are based on a “pack of lies.” He has said that if Palestinians in Gaza aren’t getting enough food, “it’s not because Israel is blocking it, it’s because Hamas is stealing it.”

True.

Israel has stated that it will not end the war until all hostages are freed and Hamas is eliminated. The conflict began after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli authorities. The war has resulted in the deaths of more than 39,000 people in Gaza, according to Palestinian authorities.

Again, numbers without context. Why did Hamas attack? Who can stop the war? We see what Israel's goal is. What is Hamas' goal? why is it not part of this sentence?

Smotrich on Monday advocated for Israeli control of the aid effort “as a part or as an essential means of realizing the defined goals of the war,” and said only minimal aid is needed in Gaza in the months and years to come. “No one talks about (Israeli) military rule (of Gaza) now. No need to unclog sewers, no need for education, no need for welfare. Gaza in the next two years is (going to be) a war zone. You need food, some medicine and a minimum of sanitation – water, sewage. That’s it,” he said.

"Minimal aid" is a key term here again without context. Smotrich is referring to arguments within Israel that a full military occupation of Gaza is too expensive. His claim is that Israel is not aiming for a full civil occupation, but rather to establish independent food-distribution centers that are not controlled by Hamas.

last updated: 2026-08-10