RSS
Hamas-Run Ministry of Interior Warns Gaza Civilians to Reject Aid From Group Backed by US, Israel
Trucks carrying aid move, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hussam Al-Masri
The Hamas-run Ministry of Interior in Gaza has urged civilians to reject incoming humanitarian aid deliveries from an organization backed by the US and Israel, calling the plan to distribute aid and circumvent Hamas “unacceptable” and threatening those who accept it.
“The expected Israeli mechanism for distributing aid in Gaza is completely unacceptable, and we call on our people not to cooperate with it, as the occupation will use the aid distribution as a security and intelligence operation under the cover of the Israeli-funded ‘Gaza foundation,’ the ministry posted on X/Twitter on Monday.
The Hamas-controlled ministry added that it would “secure and protect aid trucks” that enter the Gaza Strip and that it would “not allow the creation of bodies collaborating” with Israel. It then seemingly threatened civilians who accept the aid and work alongside Israel, posting that “anyone who cooperates with the occupation in imposing its agenda will pay the price, and we will take the necessary measures against them.”
The Palestinian Ministry of Interior in Gaza is a central organ of the Hamas-run government, overseeing internal security, police forces, civil defense, and the administration of civil affairs. The ministry also functions as a tool of political enforcement, maintaining tight control over public life and suppressing dissent. Additionally, human rights groups have documented its involvement in arbitrary arrests, surveillance, and political intimidation, making it a symbol of Hamas’s broader grip on the enclave’s civilian population.
Israel has unveiled a new proposal to lead a private aid initiative in Gaza aimed at bypassing Hamas control over humanitarian assistance. The plan, backed by the US-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), seeks to establish four centralized distribution hubs in southern Gaza, each serving approximately 300,000 people. These hubs would be secured by private contractors and located near Israeli military positions, with aid transported via armored vehicles from the Kerem Shalom crossing .
However, the GHF’s proposal also faces internal challenges. Jake Wood, the organization’s executive director, resigned shortly after his appointment, citing conflicts with core humanitarian principles and the inability to operate independently under the current plan . Despite these setbacks, Israel maintains that the initiative is necessary to prevent Hamas from diverting aid and to ensure that humanitarian assistance reaches those in need.
Additionally, Israel is facing mounting international criticism for its refusal to collaborate with the United Nations in distributing humanitarian aid to Gaza. The UN and numerous aid organizations have condemned Israel’s new plan, arguing that the plan contravenes fundamental humanitarian principles, such as impartiality and neutrality and could exacerbate displacement within the beleaguered enclave.
Experts and Israeli officials have long said that Hamas, an internationally designated terrorist organization that has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades, steals much of the aid to fuel its terrorist operations and sells some of the remainder to Gaza’s civilian population at an increased price. Jerusalem has also said that aid distribution cannot be left to international organizations, which it accuses of allowing Hamas to seize supplies intended for the civilian population.
Israel argues that the Hamas terrorist group has both infiltrated humanitarian organizations, including the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees and their descendants (UNRWA), in the Gaza Strip and hijacked aid trucks entering the enclave.
Beyond the Israeli government, research organizations and media outlets have publicized findings showing numerous UNRWA-employed staff, including teachers and school principals, are active Hamas members, some of whom were directly involved in the Palestinian terrorist group’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, while many others openly celebrated it.
Israel has discovered that Hamas used UNRWA facilities in Gaza, including its schools, to run operations and attacks against Israel and to store weapons, both in and under UNRWA institutions. The Israeli military claims that in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, Hamas terrorists were found in UNRWA’s central logistics compound alongside UN vehicles. A group of 3,000 teachers working in Gaza for UNRWA even praised the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. UNRWA-operated schools in Gaza have also been accused of teaching children antisemitism and hatred of Israel. In June 2024, more than 100 Israeli victims of the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks sued UNWRA, alleging that the agency “knowingly provided material support to Hamas in Gaza.”
The post Hamas-Run Ministry of Interior Warns Gaza Civilians to Reject Aid From Group Backed by US, Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
RSS
Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
RSS
Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.