RUTHFULLY YOURS

The Iran-backed Palestinian terrorist group Hamas has reconstituted its “Executive Force” as part of an effort to control humanitarian aid and “impose law and order” in the Gaza Strip.

The 5,000-strong force, originally established in 2006, has been entrusted with preventing the “theft” of food and “deterring thieves and thugs responsible for anarchy and lawlessness.”

Members of the “Executive Force” have been deployed throughout the Gaza Strip and given orders to “take all necessary measures, including the use of excessive force,” to restore security and stability to the coastal strip, according to Palestinian sources.

In 2007, the “Executive Force” played a central role in the Hamas coup against the Palestinian Authority (PA) and was responsible for killing hundreds of Palestinians and wounding thousands. After the coup, PA President Mahmoud Abbas declared the force criminal and illegal.

Palestinians, however, say that if anyone is stealing the humanitarian aid and food, it is Hamas. They also point out that Hamas gangs are responsible for the anarchy and lawlessness and the intimidation of the local residents.

Recently, Hamas terrorists have been storming warehouses and stealing food in different parts of Gaza. The move comes in the wake of reports that Israel is trying to persuade international organizations to take responsibility for the distribution of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, a move strongly opposed by Hamas. The terror group claims that the Israeli attempt to distribute humanitarian aid through international organizations is “political blackmail” and a “violation of international law.”

Videos posted on social media have shown Hamas thugs brutally beating Palestinians suspected of stealing food for their families. According to other reports, Hamas recently executed a number of Palestinians for allegedly stealing food from warehouses. Hamas claims that the alleged thieves were “collaborators” with Israel.

On May 5, Hamas terrorists murdered Ziad Abu Shalouf, the head of the Abu Shalouf clan, in the Mawassi area of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. His “crime:” publicly speaking out against Hamas.

A day earlier, Hamas announced that three Gazans will soon be slaughtered with knives for allegedly “collaborating” with Israel. Others will have their limbs hacked off with blades for supposed “theft” of food.

“This isn’t law, it’s barbarism – the rule of knives and fear,” commented Hamza Howidy, a Gaza-born peace and human rights advocate.

“Since October 7, I’ve said it without hesitation: Hamas is ISIS – only with better PR. And that PR machine runs on Qatari money, through media outlets that spin terrorism into heroism and wash blood with propaganda.”

In another post on X, Howidy wrote:

“What’s happening in Gaza isn’t just destruction – it’s a full-scale societal collapse. Armed gangs and Hamas militias are storming homes, shops, and storage units, stealing everything in sights. People are being shot over bread. Beaten for trying to protect their families. There is no government, no law, no order – just fear. And as Palestinians dare to speak out, Hamas hunts them down, kidnaps them, threatens their families and silences them by force. This isn’t war. This is a terrorist regime dragging a broken society into suicide. They offer no protection, no aid, no leadership – only guns, terror, and slogans.”

Hamas’s latest crackdown shows that the terrorist group is determined to keep the humanitarian aid in its hands to maintain its control over the residents of the Gaza Strip and deter them from revolting against it.

Earlier this month, Hamas terrorists were seen roaming the streets of the Gaza Strip with loudspeakers, screaming that “whoever says Hamas is finished, his blood is ours and shall be wasted.”

Hamas is aware that the humanitarian aid is crucial for maintaining leverage over the Palestinians, who have been facing death and destruction since October 7, 2023, when the terrorist group and thousands of “ordinary” Palestinians invaded southern Israel, murdering more than 1,200 Israelis and injuring thousands. Another 251 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly, were kidnapped to the Gaza Strip, where 59 – dead and alive – are still held captive by Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups.

Hamas is doing its utmost to preserve its regime in the Gaza Strip, even if that means depriving the Palestinians there of food.

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a Gaza native and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, wrote on May 2:

“The coordinated looting of food storage facilities in northern Gaza that belong to the UN and other NGOs in an organized fashion at the same time can only mean one thing: an act by a cohesive entity that could mobilize the strike elements and knew exactly what areas to hit. This can only be Hamas, which is said to be facing immense logistical and financial challenges due to the complete blockade by the Israeli military against the Gaza Strip. Furthermore, Hamas relied on criminal elements to create pandemonium that generated mass looting events which provided some cover for the terror group to commit the organized theft of what remains of food supplies in Gaza.”

This criminality is precisely why the international community needs to back Israel’s effort to prevent Hamas from monopolizing and embezzling humanitarian supplies sent into the Gaza Strip.

The international community should support any initiative aimed at ending Hamas’s rule over the Gaza Strip and destroying its military capabilities. Both Israel and the Palestinian people, who are paying a heavy price as a result of Hamas’s decision to commit the biggest massacre against Jews since the Holocaust, will only gain from this.

Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.