While the residents of Gaza are running out of food, water and fuel, a report by the newspaper “The New York Times“About the Hamas movement’s possession of supplies that it collected over the years and stored under tunnels, waiting for them to become urgently needed.
Arab and Western officials, who spoke to the newspaper on condition of anonymity, say that “there is a basis for Israeli statements indicating that Hamas is stockpiling supplies, including much-needed food and fuel.”
The officials confirmed that “Hamas spent years building tens of kilometers of tunnels under the Gaza Strip, where it collected in stores almost everything needed for a long battle, a reality that Israel may soon find itself facing if it carries out its threat to invade Gaza.”
Hamas has “hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel for vehicles and missiles, caches of ammunition, explosives and materials to make more, and stockpiles of food, water and medicine,” according to what the newspaper quoted officials as saying.
A senior Lebanese official said, “Hamas, whose number is estimated at between 35,000 and 40,000, has enough stock to continue fighting for three to four months without resupply.”
The newspaper notes that “one of the kidnapped Israeli women who was released by Hamas revealed how the movement provided the prisoners with medicines, shampoo, and feminine hygiene products, which are now extremely rare materials in Gaza.”
With Gazans facing a humanitarian catastrophe, Hamas’ stockpiles raise questions about responsibility, if any, towards the civilian population, according to the report.
Hamas has not said much about its supply situation, but the government that runs it in Gaza says it “has fuel stocks that run out quickly in emergency situations.”
“Hospitals, ambulances, firefighters’ vehicles, and civil defense trucks use the government’s emergency fuel store,” according to Salama Marouf, who runs the government’s media office in Gaza.
On October 7, Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization, launched the most violent attack inside Israeli territory, killing 1,400 people, most of them civilians, including women and children.
After the attack, the Israeli army began a bombing campaign on Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas, imposing a siege on the Strip, which is inhabited by about 2.4 million people. The Hamas Ministry of Health announced the killing of 7,326 people, the majority of whom were civilians, including women and children.
#water #fuel #crisis #Gaza #report #talks #Hamas #stock #supplies
2023-10-28 04:07:19
