Neither Fatah nor Hamas: Arab News/YouGov poll shows Palestinians want nothing to do with their leadership

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Palestinian skepticism has been fueled by the policies of the right-wing governments of Benjamin Netanyahu (L), who since 1996 has served 15 years as prime minister. (AP/File Photo)
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Updated 20 May 2023
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Neither Fatah nor Hamas: Arab News/YouGov poll shows Palestinians want nothing to do with their leadership

  • Survey released on 75th anniversary of the Nakba reveals broad sense of despair among Palestinian population
  • Overwhelming 86% respondents believe current Israeli government is not serious about signing a peace deal

LONDON: A new Arab News/YouGov survey has identified a broad sense of despair among many Palestinians who feel trapped between an Israeli government they believe has no interest in forging peace and a Palestinian leadership they do not trust to successfully negotiate a deal with Israel.

The survey, titled “Prospects, Peace and Politics: Where do Palestinians stand?,” was published on the 75th anniversary of the Nakba.

Unsurprisingly, the survey finds that an overwhelming majority of Palestinians — 86 percent of the 693 who expressed a view — believe that the current Israeli government is not serious about signing a peace deal, a prospect about which only 14 percent remain optimistic.

Such skepticism has been fueled by the policies of the right-wing governments of Benjamin Netanyahu, who since 1996 has served 15 years as prime minister, over four separate terms in office.

After the formation in December 2022 of the latest Israeli coalition government, widely regarded as the most right-wing the country has seen, Netanyahu’s Likud party unnerved even its US allies by announcing plans to “advance and develop settlements in all parts of Israel — in the Galilee, the Negev Desert, the Golan Heights and Judea and Samaria (West Bank).”

Haaretz, the left-leaning Israeli newspaper, described the new government as “the most extreme right-wing, racist, homophobic and theocratic coalition in Israel’s history” — an impression Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich did nothing to dispel with a speech in March in which he declared: “There is no such thing as a Palestinian nation. There is no Palestinian history.”

In January this year protests broke out across Israel against plans by the coalition to reform the judiciary, widely seen as a move designed to end judicial review of the government’s policies.

Such is the skepticism among Palestinians about the intentions of the Israelis that 66 percent still see no hope for peace even in the unlikely event of Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing regime being replaced by a left-wing government.

The last time the left had any real influence on Israeli politics was during the heyday of the Meretz party, which between 1992 and 1996 held 12 seats and was the third largest party in the Knesset. Meretz won no seats in Israel’s 2022 elections.

Regardless, the survey shows that there is little confidence among Palestinians in any Israeli government, whether right or left. Only 15 percent believe a right-wing government is likely to sign a peace deal, rising only slightly to 19 percent in the case of any future left-wing administration.

More surprisingly, perhaps, 63 percent of Palestinians feel unrepresented by either Hamas or Fatah, with the two factions attracting the confidence of only 11 percent and 19 percent respectively.




Palestinians carry the body of Shadi al-Shurafa who was killed by Israeli army fire on July 27 and his body was returned today, during a funeral procession in Beita village in the occupied West Bank, on August 10, 2021. (AFP/File Photo)

US-Palestinian journalist, author and media consultant Ramzy Baroud told Arab News that the results of its YouGov poll are “consistent with the reality on the ground. Indeed, this lack of leadership on the part of the Palestinian Authority, coupled with the factional divide, has pushed Palestinians to mobilize around different sets of values and a different kind of leadership.”

The slow formation of this new leadership, “emerging at a grassroots community level throughout occupied Palestine and among Palestinian prisoners in Israel,” was “completely bypassing the Palestinian Authority and also the factional nature of the various Palestinian political groups.”

This process, he believes, “will eventually lead to a degree of centralized leadership, which reflects the growing unity among Palestinians at a popular level.”

Meanwhile, he added, “despite the lack of truly representative leadership, the Palestinian people continue to communicate, time and again, that only an end to the Israeli occupation and the dismantlement of the apartheid regime can start the process of achieving true peace and justice in Palestine.”

Hamas, which was founded in 1987 after the first intifada, holds a majority in the Palestinian Legislative Council, the legislature of the Palestinian National Authority, but maintains a military wing and is designated a terrorist organization by the US and some other states, including the UK. 

Fatah is currently the second-largest party in the Palestinian Legislative Council. Founded in 1959 by Yasser Arafat and others as the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, Fatah had a long history of terrorism but in the late 1980s renounced violence in favor of pursuing a diplomatic path toward a two-state solution.

The poll shows that only 25 percent of Palestinians believe the current Palestinian leadership is capable of successfully negotiating a peace deal with Israel.  A whopping 75 percent do not. 

“Palestinians lost trust in their leadership years ago,” Baroud said.

“This lack of trust is intrinsically linked to the endemic corruption of the PA but also to the total failure of the current Palestinian leadership to achieve a single meaningful political victory that could potentially renew the Palestinian people’s faith in the so-called peace process.”

In a frank interview with Al Arabiya in 2020, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, Saudi Arabia’s former ambassador to the US, spoke of his sadness at the failure of the Palestinian leadership to find the path to peace over many years. He was responding to the outright rejection by Palestinian leaders of the declaration of cooperation between the US, Israel, and the UAE, which was described by one Palestinian official as “a poisoned stab in the back of the Palestinian people and an attempt to try and get around international legitimacy.”

This, said Prince Bandar, “was truly painful to hear. This low level of discourse is not what we expect from officials who seek to gain global support for their cause, and their transgression against the Gulf states’ leadership with this reprehensible discourse is entirely unacceptable.”

It was, he added, “not surprising to see how quick these leaders are to use terms like ‘treason,’ ‘betrayal,’ and ‘back-stabbing,’ because these are their ways in dealing with each other.

“Efforts in the past years would have been better focused on the Palestinian cause, peace initiatives and protecting the rights of the Palestinian people to reach a point where this just, albeit robbed, cause can finally see the light — and when I say robbed, I mean both by Israel and Palestinian leaders equally.”

When asked for their views about why all previous peace talks and initiatives have failed, Israel’s continuing policy of intimidation, settlements and annexation emerges as the number one perceived cause, followed closely by US bias toward Israel.

This bias was especially evident during the presidency of Donald Trump. In November 2019 Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared that the US no longer considered Israel settlements in the West Bank to be illegal, reversing a position held by the US since a 1978 legal ruling by the State Department.

However, in February this year Antony Blinken, the current US secretary of state, issued a statement condemning Israeli moves to accelerate its illegal settlement program. The US, he said, was “deeply troubled by Israel’s decision yesterday to advance reportedly nearly 10,000 settlement units and to begin a process to retroactively legalize nine outposts in the West Bank that were previously illegal under Israeli law.”

He added: “We strongly oppose such unilateral measures, which exacerbate tensions and undermine the prospects for a negotiated two-state solution.”

Despite the lack of confidence in Hamas and Fatah, those polled were less inclined to lay the blame for the failure of peace talks on the activities of Palestinian armed militias.

 


Netanyahu vows to uproot Hamas as ceasefire proposals are discussed

Updated 58 min 27 sec ago
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Netanyahu vows to uproot Hamas as ceasefire proposals are discussed

  • Nearly 21 months of war have created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has recently expanded its military operations

Gaza City, Palestinian Territories: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday vowed to eradicate Hamas, even as the Palestinian militant group said it was discussing new proposals from mediators for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The Israeli leader had yet to comment on US President Donald Trump’s claim that Israel had backed a plan for a 60-day truce in its offensive against Hamas in the war-ravaged territory.
But a week ahead of talks scheduled with Trump in Washington, he vowed to “destroy” Hamas “down to their very foundation.”
Hamas said it was “conducting national consultations to discuss” the proposals submitted in negotiations mediated by Qatar and Egypt.
Nearly 21 months of war have created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has recently expanded its military operations.
The civil defense agency said that Israeli forces had killed at least 47 people on Wednesday.
Among the dead was Marwan Al-Sultan, director of the Indonesian Hospital, a key clinic in the north of Gaza, Palestinian officials said.
Trump on Tuesday urged Hamas to accept a 60-day ceasefire, saying that Israel had agreed to finalize such a deal.
Hamas said in a statement that it was studying the latest proposals and aiming “to reach an agreement that guarantees ending the aggression, achieving the withdrawal (of Israeli forces from Gaza) and urgently aiding our people in the Gaza Strip.”
Netanyahu vowed however: “We will free all our hostages, and we will eliminate Hamas. It will be no more,” in filmed comments in the city of Ashkelon near Gaza’s northern border.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar earlier said that he saw “some positive signs,” amid high pressure to bring home the hostages.
“We are serious in our will to reach a hostage deal and a ceasefire,” he said. “Our goal is to begin proximity talks as soon as possible.”
Out of 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants in October 2023, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
A Palestinian source familiar with the mediated negotiations told AFP that “there are no fundamental changes in the new proposal” under discussion compared to previous terms presented by the United States.
The source said that the new proposal “includes a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release half of the living Israeli captives in the Gaza Strip, in exchange for Israel releasing a number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.”
In southern Gaza, civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that five members of the same family were killed in an Israeli air strike on Wednesday that hit a tent housing displaced people in the Al-Mawasi area.
Despite being declared a safe zone by Israel in December 2023, Al-Mawasi has been hit by repeated Israeli strikes.
AFP footage from the area showed makeshift tents blown apart as Palestinians picked through the wreckage trying to salvage what was left of their belongings.
“They came here thinking it was a safe area and they were killed. What did they do?” said one resident, Maha Abu Rizq, against a backdrop of destruction.
AFP footage from nearby Khan Yunis city showed infants covered in blood being rushed into Nasser Hospital. One man carrying a child whose face was smeared with blood screamed: “Children, children!“
Among other fatalities, Bassal later reported five people killed by Israeli army fire near an aid distribution site close to the southern city of Rafah and a further death following Israeli fire near an aid site in the center of the territory.
They were the latest in a string of deadly incidents that have hit people trying to receive food.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by rescuers.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it “is operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities” in line with “international law, and takes feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm.”
It said in a statement that a 19-year-old sergeant in its forces “fell during combat in the northern Gaza Strip.”
The military late on Wednesday issued a fresh evacuation warning to residents for three neighborhoods of Gaza City, urging them to flee south to the Mawasi area.
Israeli forces are “operating with extreme intensity in the area and will attack any location being used to launch missiles toward the State of Israel,” Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a message on Telegram.
“The destruction of terrorist organizations will continue and expand into the city center, encompassing all neighborhoods of the city,” Avichay wrote.
The military earlier said that its air force had intercepted two “projectiles” that crossed from northern Gaza into Israeli territory.
Israel launched its offensive in response to Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 57,012 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers its figures reliable.


Israeli Likud party ministers urge Netanyahu to annex West Bank

Updated 03 July 2025
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Israeli Likud party ministers urge Netanyahu to annex West Bank

  • The petition was signed by 15 cabinet ministers and Amir Ohana, speaker of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament

Cabinet ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party called on Wednesday for Israel to annex the Israeli-occupied West Bank before the Knesset recesses at the end of the month.
They issued a petition ahead of Netanyahu’s meeting next week with US President Donald Trump, where discussions are expected to center on a potential 60-day Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas.
The petition was signed by 15 cabinet ministers and Amir Ohana, speaker of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.
There was no immediate response from the prime minister’s office. Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, long a confidant of Netanyahu, did not sign the petition. He has been in Washington since Monday for talks on Iran and Gaza.
“We ministers and members of Knesset call for applying Israeli sovereignty and law immediately on Judea and Samaria,” they wrote, using the biblical names for the West Bank captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.
Their petition cited Israel’s recent achievements against both Iran and Iran’s allies and the opportunity afforded by the strategic partnership with the US and support of Trump.
It said the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel demonstrated that the concept of Jewish settlement blocs alongside the establishment of a Palestinian state poses an existential threat to Israel.
“The task must be completed, the existential threat removed from within, and another massacre in the heart of the country must be prevented,” the petition stated.
Most countries regard Jewish settlements in the West Bank, many of which cut off Palestinian communities from one another, as a violation of international law.
With each advance of Israeli settlements and roads, the West Bank becomes more fractured, further undermining prospects for a contiguous land on which Palestinians could build a sovereign state long envisaged in Middle East peacemaking.
Israel’s pro-settler politicians have been emboldened by the return to the White House of Trump, who has proposed Palestinians leave Gaza, a suggestion widely condemned across the Middle East and beyond.


Syria state media says talk of peace deal with Israel ‘premature’

Updated 02 July 2025
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Syria state media says talk of peace deal with Israel ‘premature’

  • “Statements concerning signing a peace agreement with the Israeli occupation at this time are considered premature,” state TV reported
  • “It is not possible to talk of the possibility of negotiations over a new agreement”

DAMASCUS: Syrian state media reported Wednesday that statements on signing a peace deal with Israel were “premature,” days after Israel said it was interested in striking a normalization agreement with Damascus.

“Statements concerning signing a peace agreement with the Israeli occupation at this time are considered premature,” state TV reported an unidentified official source as saying.

“It is not possible to talk of the possibility of negotiations over a new agreement unless the occupation fully adheres the 1974 disengagement agreement and withdraws from the areas it has penetrated,” it added.

On Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said his country had an “interest in adding countries, Syria and Lebanon, our neighbors, to the circle of peace and normalization while safeguarding Israel’s essential and security interests.”

The statement came amid major shifts in the region’s power dynamics, including the fall of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar Assad in December and the weakening of his ally Lebanese armed group Hezbollah after its latest war with Israel.

Syria’s new Islamist authorities have confirmed they held indirect talks with Israel to reduce tensions.

Since Assad’s ouster, Israel has repeatedly bombed targets inside Syria while Israeli troops have entered the UN-patrolled buffer zone along the 1974 armistice line on the Golan Heights and carried out incursions deeper into southern Syria.

Interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa has repeatedly said Damascus does not seek conflict with its neighbors, asking the international community to pressure Israel into stopping its attacks.

Syria has said that the goal of ongoing negotiations is the reimplementation of the 1974 armistice between the two countries.

Saar insisted that the Golan Heights, much of which Israel seized in 1967 and later annexed in a move not recognized by the United Nations, “will remain part of the State of Israel” under any future peace agreement.

Control of the strategic plateau has long been a source of tension between Israel and Syria, which are technically still at war.


Gulf diplomacy with Iran helped limit conflict with Israel, Middle East experts say

Updated 02 July 2025
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Gulf diplomacy with Iran helped limit conflict with Israel, Middle East experts say

  • Pursuit of pragmatic relations between GCC nations and Tehran prevented fighting from escalating ‘out of hand’
  • Trump-brokered peace agreement offers ‘opportunities’ for further steps toward regional security, according to academics specializing on the region

LONDON: Improved relations between Arab Gulf countries and Iran helped contain the recent conflict with Israel, Middle East experts said on Wednesday during a discussion about regional developments.

Israel attacked Iran on June 13 with airstrikes targeting its nuclear program and military sites. Iran retaliated during the 12-day conflict by launching salvos of missiles toward Israeli cities.

Many feared the war might escalate, dragging in other countries in the region, especially after the US joined the airstrikes on June 22 by dropping bombs on key Iranian nuclear sites.

While Iran did retaliate against the US by attacking Al-Udeid airbase in Qatar on June 23, President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire two days later, and Iran has refrained from attacking other US targets in the region.

When the war started, Gulf countries condemned Israel’s attacks on Iran and called for deescalation. There has been a shift in the region in recent years away from an adversarial relationship with Iran to one of more pragmatic relations, cemented by a Chinese-brokered agreement between Riyadh and Tehran in March 2023.

“That reintegration of Iran into the Gulf security complex has played a really prominent role in preventing this from getting out of hand,” Simon Mabon, a professor of international politics and director of the SEPAD peace and conflict research center at Lancaster University, said during a discussion about developments in the Middle East this year.

This approach showed Gulf states building a regional security architecture from the inside that is “inclusive,” he added. It is viewed as a more “pragmatic and more sustainable way of building a longer-term form of prosperity,” and the approach speaks to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 reforms program and the economic pragmatism of Gulf states, he added during the online event organized by SEPAD and the Foreign Policy Centre in London.

Eyad Alrefai, a lecturer in political science at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah and a SEPAD fellow, said the efforts to forge new relationships between Gulf countries and Iran meant that the nations had been able to “manage their differences diplomatically,” and this included economic issues.

There had been less Iranian interference in the domestic affairs of GCC countries, and also in the wider Arab region, he added. This included Iran’s decision not to get involved in Syria when President Bashar Assad, an Iranian ally, was removed from power by opposition fighters in December last year.

The West’s position on the Iran-Israel conflict, largely seen to be one of support of Israel, was symptomatic of the fact that those countries continue to adopt a “tactical” outlook toward the region rather than a strategic one, Alrefai said. He urged those countries to engage with the Middle East as a socioeconomic, sustainable project moving forward.

If the truce between Iran and Israel continues to hold, many see the end of the brief war as a potential opportunity for more stability in the region.

Lina Khatib, an associate fellow at Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa Program, said there was “a real possibility for an integrated economic and security and political partnership” to emerge. She said a weakened Iran also opens up the chance to restart the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Trump said on Tuesday that Israel had agreed to the terms of a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, where more than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed during a devastating military campaign launched by Israeli authorities in response to the Hamas-led attacks against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, during which 1,200 people were killed and dozens taken hostage.

Khatib said a shift in domestic Israeli politics, with pressure from Trump, could reopen a pathway toward a long-term agreement between Israel and Palestine. This would also lead to further normalization of relations between Israel and Arab countries, she added.

“This will in turn encourage the flow of funding to places like Lebanon and Syria for reconstruction, which could only be good news for these countries economically, but also will help with stability,” Khatib said.

“Having a stable region is very much in the interest of countries in the Gulf as well.”

Clive Jones, a professor of regional security and director of the Institute for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at Durham University, said Israel had scored a huge win against Iran but ran the risk of failing to convert it into a diplomatic opportunity.

“The challenge for Israel now is how you actually cash in those military gains for diplomatic advantage,” he said.

“I think Israel is actually missing a huge opportunity, for example by not engaging more proactively with the new regime in Syria.”

He said Israel’s reliance on its military superiority would not be enough to secure long-term security.


Why latest Gaza ceasefire proposal may offer a pause — but not a path to peace

Updated 02 July 2025
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Why latest Gaza ceasefire proposal may offer a pause — but not a path to peace

  • As aid remains blocked and famine looms, a fragile US-backed truce faces skepticism from Hamas, Israel, and rights groups
  • With starvation deepening and no sign of peace, experts warn Israel’s aim is to force Palestinians out of Gaza — by design

LONDON: When global attention shifted to the conflict between Israel and Iran, the urgency around ending the war in Gaza appeared to dissipate. But for Palestinian civilians living under fire and the families of hostages still awaiting news, the nightmare remained very much alive.

On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that Israel had accepted the key conditions required for a 60-day ceasefire, although he did not detail the specific terms of the agreement.

He said Qatar and Egypt, which have played significant roles in the negotiations, would present the final proposal to Hamas. Trump urged Hamas to accept the deal, warning that if they reject it, the situation “will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE.”

Trump’s announcement came ahead of a scheduled meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House next week, where Trump indicated he would take a “very firm” stance.

He expressed optimism that a ceasefire agreement could be finalized as soon as next week.

Aid agencies say the blockade has caused acute shortages of food. (AFP)

Despite these statements, the fighting has escalated. Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee has announced renewed operations in northern Gaza, the aim being the elimination of “terrorists and terrorist infrastructure.”

On June 29, Israeli forces ordered mass evacuations from northern Gaza and Jabalia to Sheikh Radwan, warning residents to move south ahead of intensified strikes.

The US-backed proposal to end the conflict, originally presented by US envoy Steve Witkoff on May 31, called for a 60-day ceasefire in exchange for the release of 10 living Israeli hostages, while venturing into the thorny issue of Hamas disarmament.

But the plan had drawn criticism, with Hamas rejecting the proposal, saying it was “biased in favor of Israel” and failed to address the Palestinian enclave’s dire humanitarian crisis.

Instead, Hamas called for the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, a permanent ceasefire, and the transfer of authority for the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian-led body.

Israel too had issued several non-negotiable demands, raising doubts about the proposal’s potential to deliver lasting peace — until Trump’s announcement on Wednesday.

Although it has signaled openness to a ceasefire if Hamas releases the remaining hostages, Israel has insisted on the disarmament or exile of the Hamas leadership. Some Israeli ministers have even threatened to resign over any deal that does not secure Hamas’s defeat.

Hamas called for the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, a permanent ceasefire, and the transfer of authority for the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian-led body. (AFP)

“I don’t see any indication that we’re moving toward a ceasefire,” Khaled Elgindy, visiting scholar at Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, told Arab News.

“It seems fairly clear that Netanyahu does not want to stop bombing and starving Gaza.

“He and his defense minister, Israel Katz, have said very clearly that they’re not going to allow any humanitarian aid, which is the most urgent priority right now, even more than a ceasefire.”

Since early March 2025, Israel has largely blocked humanitarian aid from entering Gaza. These restrictions have halted the flow of essential supplies — including food, medicine, and fuel — dramatically worsening an already dire situation.

Although Israel resumed limited aid shipments in mid-May, UN agencies and humanitarian groups have widely condemned the effort as inadequate to meet the needs of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents.

International rights groups have denounced the aid restrictions as violations of international law, accusing Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war and pushing Gaza toward a man-made catastrophe — claims the Israeli government denies.

Aid agencies say the blockade has caused acute shortages of food, clean water, fuel, and medical supplies, driving the population to the brink of famine.

Despite growing international pressure, Israeli officials insist on retaining control over aid distribution, arguing that the measures are necessary to prevent supplies from falling into the hands of Hamas.

Since October 2023, the Israeli offensive has killed at least 55,700 Palestinians in Gaza, according to local health authorities. (AP)

In May, this stance led to the launch of a controversial new mechanism: the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF. Backed by the US and Israel but rejected by the UN, the GHF has come under fire for failing to meet humanitarian standards and for relying on Israeli military oversight.

The GHF replaces the longstanding UN-led aid system, which Israel claims allowed Hamas to divert supplies — an allegation firmly denied by the UN and most humanitarian organizations.

Operating through four military-controlled distribution hubs in southern Gaza, the GHF forces civilians to travel long distances to collect prepackaged food, water, and hygiene kits — often under the watch of Israeli troops.

Critics, including the UN and major aid groups, say the GHF politicizes aid and enables Israel to weaponize relief by tightly regulating access.

Deadly incidents have occurred near distribution sites, with video footage showing scenes that observers have compared to concentration camps.

One such incident took place on June 15, when Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd of Palestinians gathered near an aid center in Rafah. At least eight were killed and dozens wounded, according to witnesses and Gaza health officials.

A tractor protest organised by the Kibbutz Movement and the Hostages Families (AFP)

Survivors described the scene as a trap, with no safe way to evacuate the wounded amid the chaos.

The UN and international rights groups condemned the violence. The Council on American-Islamic Relations labeled the aid centers “human slaughterhouses” due to repeated fatal shootings of civilians seeking food and water.

The international community has repeatedly called for a ceasefire in Gaza since the Israeli military operation began on Oct. 7, 2023, in retaliation for the deadly Hamas-led attack on southern Israel. Those appeals, however, have largely fallen on deaf ears.

In early June, the US vetoed yet another UN Security Council resolution calling for an unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Dorothy Shea, US ambassador to the UN, defended the veto, saying the resolution would “undermine diplomatic efforts” to reach a ceasefire. She also criticized the UN for not having designated Hamas a terrorist organization.

The international community has repeatedly called for a ceasefire in Gaza since the Israeli military operation began on Oct. 7, 2023. (AFP)

Hamas is described as such by the US, UK, and EU.

“We would not support any measure that fails to condemn Hamas and does not call for Hamas to disarm and leave Gaza,” she said.

Still, pressure continues to mount. On June 18, the World Food Programme emphasized the urgent need for another ceasefire to allow safe and consistent delivery of critical food supplies to families in Gaza.

On June 12, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and unrestricted humanitarian access. The resolution, introduced by Spain, Slovenia, and others, was backed by 149 countries and condemned Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon of war.

A day later, the 10 elected members of the UN Security Council (E10) urged compliance with international law and emphasized the urgent need for humanitarian relief.

“A ceasefire will take a lot of diplomatic effort,” Elgindy said. “But at a minimum, there should be international pressure to force Israel to stop preventing food and medicine from entering Gaza. Even that is not really happening.”

The ceasefire proposal under discussion — supported by the US, Egypt, and Qatar — calls for a phased release of 10 living Israeli hostages and 18 bodies, in exchange for more than 1,200 Palestinian prisoners.

INNUMBER

• 5,833+ Killed in Gaza since hostilities resumed in March.

• 9 Israeli evacuation orders issued May 22 to June 12 across Gaza.

• 962 Israeli ceasefire violations in six weeks after Jan. 2025 agreement.

(Sources: WHO & Palestine’s representative to the UN)

Hostages would be freed over the first week of the truce, while Hamas would halt hostilities and permit aid to resume through the previously suspended UN-led system.

Israel signed off on the plan in May and is awaiting Hamas’s formal response. But Hamas insists on guarantees of a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces, and the restoration of full aid access.

Hamas also opposes Israel’s demand for the group’s full disarmament and the immediate release of all hostages before any ceasefire takes effect.

Witkoff has condemned Hamas’s conditions as “unacceptable,” urging the group to accept the deal as a basis for proximity talks.

Israel, meanwhile, maintains that any ceasefire must include the dismantling of Hamas as a military and governing entity and the return of all hostages.

It was triggered by the unprecedented Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, which saw some 1,200 people killed, the majority of them civilians, and around 250 taken hostage, many of them non-Israeli nationals.

Israel’s retaliatory assault has displaced 90 percent of Gaza’s population, decimated infrastructure, and brought the health system to the brink of collapse.

Israeli officials, including Netanyahu and members of his far-right coalition, have openly discussed annexing parts of Gaza. (AFP)

Elgindy described the situation as “the worst humanitarian crisis since this horror began in October 2023.”

“It’s never been worse,” he said. “So, my sense, based on everything that we’re seeing and what the Israelis are saying, is they are moving ahead with their plan to forcibly displace the population through starvation and bombing and destruction.

“They’ve told us that this is their endgame, and we should believe them.”

Indeed, Israel’s strategy appears aimed at concentrating Gaza’s population in a small southern zone while seizing control of roughly 75 percent of the territory. The plan, approved by Israel’s security cabinet and supported by the US, has prompted alarm from human rights groups.

Organizations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have condemned the effort as ethnic cleansing and a possible war crime, citing forced displacement and collective punishment.

With supplies blocked and civilians trapped in an ever-shrinking space, Gaza’s 2.2 million residents face escalating desperation and a vanishing hope of survival.

Israeli officials, including Netanyahu and members of his far-right coalition, have openly discussed annexing parts of Gaza and “conquering” the territory. Some have called for its depopulation, drawing global condemnation and renewed calls to end arms sales and military aid to Israel.

According to Elgindy, Israeli leaders claim to have informal agreements with some countries to accept Palestinians from Gaza — although several regional powers have flatly rejected such plans.

“Jordan and Egypt and Saudi Arabia and others have completely rejected the idea,” he said.

“But of course, since the most powerful nation in the world, the US, is endorsing the idea of expelling the population, the Israelis feel that it’s not only likely, but probable. And where they go is not of concern to Israel.

Since early March 2025, Israel has largely blocked humanitarian aid from entering Gaza. (AFP)

“The only thing that this Israeli leadership cares about is that they leave. And that is why they’re continuing to use starvation as a weapon while targeting aid workers, ambulances, and civilian infrastructure.

“So, all we know is that they want them to leave, but they don’t care where they go or how they go. I think they’re calling it voluntary relocation. But of course, when you bomb and starve the population, nothing is voluntary.

“There are even reports that they’re willing to pay $5,000 per family for a job and a house. They’re willing to spend billions on expelling the population rather than on rebuilding what they’ve destroyed.”

That possibility of forced mass displacement raises urgent questions about the future of international law.

“I think this is a test right now for the international community,” Elgindy said.

“Does international law mean anything at all? And if Israel is allowed to carry out its plan of ethnic cleansing of Gaza after it’s destroyed it, after broadcasting its intentions for many months — if this is allowed to go ahead, then we know for certain that international law is a complete farce and means nothing and will never mean anything going forward.

“It will be impossible to try and revive the idea of a rules-based order after Gaza.”