March 7, 2025:
In late 2024 there were two million Palestinian refugees in Gaza and they had to be fed. That was proving difficult because several Palestinian gangs were hijacking up to a quarter of the 800 truckloads of food needed daily. Israeli troops are still fighting Palestinian gunmen in Gaza. It is also noted that the stolen food aid is offered for sale by Palestinian merchants. The prices charged are often more than many Palestinian families can afford. In some months up to $10 million in food aid is hijacked. This has been going on since Hamas took control of Gaza many years ago.
The foreign aid groups only demanded that Israel do something about the food thefts after Israel invaded Gaza following Hamas’ invasion of Israel, and massacre of almost a thousand of Israeli civilians, on October 7, 2024. Israeli forces in Gaza have limited capability to do this because their first priority is to hunt down and capture or kill the remaining Palestinian gunmen in Gaza.
This kind of crime and violence has been endemic to Gaza for over twenty years. The hostility and violence between the PA and Hamas eventually led to the PA losing control over Gaza in 2006. Hamas won an election and refused to work with the Pa government in the West Bank. In October 2023 thousands of armed Hamas members advanced north towards Israel. This led to a war that has continued into 2025.
In 2006 foreign aid groups in Gaza were complaining that at least sixteen terrorist organizations were using force to grab a share of whatever foreign aid was available. Since neither Fatah nor Hamas have been able to impose order to the area, and the economy was depressed because Hamas has not been able to work out a deal with foreign aid organizations who oppose the Hamas policy of destroying Israel, there are increasing shortages of just about everything. Except Palestinian young men with guns and attitude.
By late 2007 the Hamas militia in Gaza had increased to about 5,000 armed men. Some Hamas members claim 10,000 armed men, but more realistic estimates are half that figure. Earlier in the year, when Hamas took control of the government, Hamas only had about 2,000 armed men. Smuggled and stolen from Fatah weapons have fed the growth. The gunmen are largely untrained, poorly trained and led. As Hamas has put more gunmen on the street, there have been more clashes with Fatah gunmen.
Meanwhile, the Fatah president of the Palestinian government has expanded the Presidential Guard from 2,500 to nearly 4,000. Israel and the U.S. are suspected of helping Fatah get the weapons for this expansion. Egyptian police arrested four Egyptian smugglers as they were about to enter a newly constructed tunnel across the Egyptian border into Gaza.