There’s no way to determine who is or isn’t Hamas, Palestinian civilians who are sympathetic to Hamas, or Palestinians who are being coerced or threatened to act for Hamas.
If Humanitarian aid had gone to the civilians, Hamas couldn’t have utilized it in the first place and this wouldn’t be happening.
Hamas has essentially weaponized humanitarian aid against the people in Palestine, Israel, and Israel’s allies.
It makes people outside of this conflict feel better when they demand humanitarian aid be delivered and see the trucks roll In because they think they’re saving lives.
The reality is that they’re just giving Hamas more means to exercise control over the civilian population, prolonging the war, and there will be more casualties.
This is an old strategy, and on a micro level akin to the strategy that street gangs use when they utilize prostitution and sex trafficking to fund their organizations.
The designated pimps woo and convinces powerless women into preforming sexual services for money by making them feel appreciated, loved, safe, and as if he has her best interest. The pimps then takes and redistributes the the vast majority of the resources the women obtain into the organization and themselves.
Eventually, whatever she earns or is given, he takes, and she’s so oppressed and accustomed to this, that he doesn’t have to ask, coerce or force. She gives it over freely and immediately. She is told over and over that what her pimp and this organization offers her in exchange for the sex work, is better than what anyone else can until she believes it. The pimp allows her to take beatings or purposely puts her in harms way to experience what it feels like to be “saved”. Non-profits and advocates try and assist these women and provide them with resources, get them plugged into social services, and jobs so that these women will leave the organizations and their pimps, but that hardly every really works, at least not the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th attempt.
Once the women are plugged into those resources and social services, the organizations, through the pimps, take that, too, and squeeze even more resources out of the women.
So non-profits, advocates, and social services just become another source of wealth the organizations utilize to grow and hold larger territories longer.
The pimps and the organization also use these women to distribute and move drugs, weapons, and other illegal shit so their hands stay “clean” and are outside the gaze of law enforcement.
These women will absolutely go willingly to jail or fight for their pimps, too. Either out of love or fear because the men who hold the power over them will use threats and their kids or family members as leverage.
Often the only way to free the women is to bust and remove the entire organization. Otherwise the cycle continues and more women become victims and for longer.
It’s an unfortunate paradox. But it’s nearly identical to what Hamas has done on a large scale to the Palestinians with Humanitarian aid, minus the sex work part.
The Palestinians were already in a bad position in terrible circumstances. Hamas comes in and convinces the population through empathy, religious solidarity, expressions of empowerment, manipulation, coercion, promises of freedom, justice, and definitely by force that Hamas has the best interest of Palestinians at heart and knows better.
Which is why the Palestinian population didn’t rise up or speak up about the diversion of humanitarian aid for well over a year as the promise of freedom was made.
The Palestinians were already living without much needed resources before 10/7. When Israel cut of the deliveries and water after 10/7, Hamas was able to demonstrate to the civilian population and the rest of the anti-Israel and anti-western world that:
A. On 10/7 Hamas has won a huge victory for Palestinians by catching Israel and The West by surprise and delivered “justice” to Israel by the slaughter of 1500 Israelis, and capturing 200+ civilians proving that “Hamas knows better”.
B. When Israel cut off power, water, and humanitarian aid, this was yet another demonstration that Israel is in fact the real baddies, and the pro-Palestinian PR happening effectively is turning global sentiment as evidenced by all these massive pro-Palestinian rallies in the west.
C. Pro-Palestinian sentiment from western populations placing intense pressure and criticism on Western governments, as that’s very effective in, ya know, democracies. Western governments in turn are putting pressure on Israel, essentially restraining Israel from taking action, because the optics are so so SO bad, thus pushing MORE humanitarian aid into Gaza, that Hamas will likely use again as a means of leverage, oppression, coercion, manipulation, reward, and control on the Gazaians to:
Stay in place and not move to the south out of the impending war zone, therefore utilizing them as human shields.
Not turn on Hamas, as Hamas leaders and operatives are a small minority in comparison to the much larger civilians population.
D. Hamas has so much power over Israel and The West, that Hamas had to give up pretty much nothing to get the water back on and humanitarian aid into Gaza. They just created and published a blue print for every terrorist organization who hates Israel and it’s allies.
E. These wins and the blueprints for success has energized and given other anti-Israel/West/non-Muslim terrorist organizations and likely nations, the proof that they should assist Hamas, and that success is very possible.
Y’all, congrats, we’ve played ourselves.