US President Donald Trump, speaking Friday in the United Arab Emirates on the final day of his Mideast swing, said, “We’re looking at Gaza. And we’re going to get that taken care of. A lot of people are starving.”
On Sunday, Trump’s special Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, echoed that concern, saying the US does not want to see a humanitarian crisis in Gaza and “will not allow it to occur on President Trump’s watch.”
Later that evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, without holding a vote, pushed through a decision in the security cabinet to greenlight the renewal of humanitarian aid to Gaza. He did so even though a long-discussed US mechanism for delivering that aid was not yet operational, even though there were no guarantees Hamas wouldn’t once again hijack the aid, and even though Hamas is still holding 58 hostages – both living and dead.
The halt to humanitarian aid to Gaza began on March 2, 2025, following the collapse of ceasefire negotiations. Netanyahu said the immediate trigger was Hamas’s rejection of a US-backed proposal that would have extended the ceasefire and secured the release of more hostages. Israeli officials noted at the time that during the ceasefire, a surge of aid had flowed into Gaza – enough, they said, to sustain the population for four to six months.
Now, two and a half months later, Israel has reversed course, even though Hamas’s position on the hostages has not changed.
So, what has changed? US pressure.
US rampus up pressure on Israel
The Administration, which initially backed Israel’s decision to halt aid in March, has shifted its position as the humanitarian situation inside Gaza has deteriorated and images of destitute Gazans flood television screens around the world.
When Trump was in Riyadh, Doha, and Abu Dhabi last week, his hosts were not only talking to him about trillion-dollar deals and private jets, but also – obviously – about Gaza. It was no coincidence that the president made his comment about people starving in Gaza while in the Emirates. And it was no coincidence that Israel renewed the aid just three days after he did.
If Israeli officials initially portrayed the aid blockade as a way to defeat Hamas and secure the hostages’ release, Netanyahu now suggests that resuming aid is a precondition for defeating Hamas. Why? Because without US backing, Israel will not be able to sustain its military campaign in Gaza, especially if images of starvation dominate the headlines.
““Our best friends in the world,” Netanyahu said in a short video Monday explaining the new policy, “senators I have known as unstinting, enthusiastic supporters, who I have known for dozens of years, are coming to me and saying this: We give you all the assistance to complete the victory – arms, support to destroy Hamas, defense in the UN Security Council. There is one thing we cannot stand: We cannot take pictures of starvation, mass starvation. We won’t be able to support you.”
And so, the prime minister concluded, “in order to achieve the victory, we have to solve the problem.”
Critics on both the Left and Right have, predictably, pounced. The Left argues that this zigzag is yet more evidence that Netanyahu is unable to prosecute the war effectively. The Right insists he’s caving to pressure.
They both may be correct.
But there’s also a third possibility: Netanyahu is adjusting tactics in response to shifting ground realities.
He may have reasonably believed that halting food supplies would compel Hamas to budge. Most state actors, when faced with mass deprivation facing populations for whom they are responsible, would bend.
But Hamas, like the Houthis, is not a state actor. It is a terrorist organization, and the suffering of its own people does not weigh into its calculations.
Hamas could have guaranteed the continued flow of humanitarian aid on day one by freeing the hostages. In fact, by doing so, it could have saved thousands of Gazan civilian lives lost in the war. But it chose not to.
It is both telling and exasperating to read reports from various human rights organizations and UN bodies warning of imminent famine and demanding that Israel resume aid, effectively calling on Israel to feed and fuel its enemies, without simultaneously demanding that Hamas end the crisis by releasing the hostages.
Those genuinely concerned about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza – including the Gulf leaders Trump met last week – should direct their outrage not at Israel, but at Hamas.
There is no denying the immense suffering endured by ordinary Gazans over the past months. The images of hunger and hardship are heartbreaking, and no civilian population should have to bear such a burden. But the responsibility for this rests with Hamas. They could relieve all that suffering by freeing the hostages and disarming.
“People forgot about October 7,” Trump said in a Fox News interview Friday. When asked by anchor Bret Baier whether he was frustrated with Netanyahu, the president replied, “No, look, he’s got a tough situation. You have to remember there was an October 7 that everyone forgets. It was one of the most violent days in the history of the world – not just the Middle East, the world. When you look at the tapes… the tapes are there for everyone to see.”
He’s right.
And people have also forgotten something else: that Hamas could end this – end the hunger – by freeing the hostages and disarming. If people in Gaza are indeed starving, the solution is simple: Hamas should release the 58 hostages, between 21 and 23 who are believed to be alive.
But to save its own people, Hamas won’t let go free some two dozen Jews it barbarically kidnapped. Yet it is Israel that the world continues to castigate.
If the world is genuinely interested in alleviating Gaza’s misery, it should unite in demanding that Hamas end its hostage-holding and the use of civilians as human shields. Only then can real relief come to Gaza.
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