Gaza Native Tells MSNBC Hamas ‘Wants a Famine’: ‘Multiple Things Can be True’

Atlantic Council fellow and Gaza native Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib joined MSNBC on Friday to discuss the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza with anchor Erielle Reshef.

“Ahmed, to you—you grew up in Gaza and you lost family in this war, as I understand it. In your latest piece for The Atlantic, you write, ‘Hamas actually wants a famine in Gaza. Producing mass death from hunger is the group’s final play, its last hope for ending the war in a way that advances its goals.’ Explain that to us. Can you explain why Hamas may think this is an effective tool of war?” Reshef asked, turning the conversation to Alkhatib.

“Well, multiple things can be true at once. It is a fact that the Israeli government, through its policies, through the directions of far-right Finance Minister Smotrich, are ultimately responsible for reducing the supply of food inventory in Gaza down to a trickle starting in March,” Alkhatib replied, adding:

Nevertheless, they very much so fell into a trap of Hamas’s design. Hamas wanted to see the deterioration of the humanitarian conditions in Gaza, knowing full well that this may be the only hope for drawing in the international community, for producing horrendous imagery that showcased the war as being a humanitarian catastrophe and therefore hoping to bring about a rapid end to the war that it started and it has an ultimate responsibility to end.

I think for sure Hamas has had a role in siphoning off plenty of the aid going in. Hamas have gotten us to a place where we need GHF. I’m not saying I support GHF, but we need to even have the conversation about an alternate mechanism other than the UN. And that needs to be talked about, even if we hold Israel ultimately responsible.

“And GHF has said that it has distributed upwards of 90 million to 100 million meals so far, so it’s not insignificant. Ahmed, how do you see Israel’s policy, the U.S. policy—how should they navigate it from here to try to quell this hunger crisis?” Reshef followed up, referring to the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund.

“Well, clearly GHF has been a failure in the limited number of sites, having three in southern Gaza and only one in the north. GHF flip-flops on the messaging. Sometimes they’ll say that they were never meant to supplant the UN, when clearly the Israeli government intended for them to entirely replace the existing UN distribution mechanism,” replied Alkhatib, adding:

So even if, you know, we saw Ambassador Huckabee and Mr. Witkoff go into Gaza today and assure the president that GHF is functioning as intended, I would disagree with that assessment. I think GHF is woefully inadequate. We need to use the World Food Program.

We need to use the existing infrastructure of the UNHCR. And yes, some elements—not all, some element of UNRWA can be reactivated. We need surge aid through multiple entry points. There needs to be a discussion about securing the aid going in because my friends and contacts on the ground—my brother runs a major medical NGO, the field work for medical NGO on the ground. And a lot of the trucks going in are being looted and stolen, some by hungry and desperate people, but some by merchants of death.

So we need to secure the aid, we need to surge it, and we need to saturate the strip as part of the stabilization phase, after which there needs to be an end to the conflict. That allows Hamas to leave Gaza, allows for some sort of amnesty for what remains of their fighters, and brings about an alternative to their rule. And that’s something that, unfortunately, the Israeli government has consistently opposed.

Watch the clip.