Since Hamas launched its war on October 7 with unprecedented brutality, much of the world’s attention has inexplicably shifted away from its crimes and toward a now-familiar narrative: that Gaza is on the brink of famine and Israel is to blame. This has become the dominant discourse in media outlets, UN agencies, and among the chorus of international NGOs that routinely decry Israeli military action while saying almost nothing about Hamas’s war crimes — or, indeed, its very existence as a terror entity.
These claims of widespread starvation and “genocide” in Gaza are not just exaggerated — they are politically motivated, strategically deployed, and often utterly devoid of credible verification. That the world is quick to condemn Israel while ignoring that Hamas hoards humanitarian aid, embeds itself within civilian infrastructure, and wages war from schools and hospitals, is not a coincidence. It’s a deliberate distortion — one that has played out for decades under the auspices of what can only be described as a humanitarian industrial complex that not only thrives on the conflict, but is invested in its perpetuation.
Organisations such as UNRWA have been repeatedly exposed for their complicity with Hamas, from turning a blind eye to tunnel networks under schools to employing staff directly involved in terrorism. When these revelations come to light, the global response is not outrage but more funding — more condemnation of Israel, and more calls for “restraint,” even as Israeli civilians remain hostage and Hamas continues to fire rockets at population centres.
Let us be clear: this war did not begin because of occupation, nor because of humanitarian conditions. It began because Hamas is ideologically committed to Israel’s destruction. Every day that Hamas remains in power is another day that both Israelis and Palestinians are held hostage — the former literally, the latter politically and physically. The continued international obsession with blaming Israel (while excusing or erasing Hamas’s role in the crisis) has become a moral and strategic failure.
It is time to re-centre the conversation. The war can end tomorrow. Hamas can surrender, release the hostages, and disarm. This is the only path toward peace — not more airdrops, not more carefully worded UN statements, and certainly not the fantasy that Hamas is a legitimate stakeholder in a future peace agreement.
Israel has both the right and the obligation to remove this threat. And those who claim to care about Palestinian lives must finally stop enabling the terrorist group that has sacrificed them for political gain. Gaza will only be free when it is free of Hamas.
