“Read my lips: Not a single grain of wheat will enter Gaza if it is to end up in Hamas’ hands,” said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Monday.
He was joined by the IDF spokesperson, who stated: “Israel does not, and will not, transfer any aid to Hamas.”
In light of these unequivocal statements, Maariv asked Eyal Ofer, an expert on Hamas’s economy, whether Israel plans to maintain the blockade on Gaza until Hamas surrenders and the hostages are returned.
"From the official 'no' we won't allow aid in, you can understand the unofficial 'yes'," Ofer replied.
"Israel is going back to its old doctrine—the one they called 'creating a separation between Hamas and the civilian population.' They're going to use this flimsy distinction between 'humanitarian aid to Gaza' and 'aid that ends up with Hamas' to justify not just letting in sacks of wheat, but truckloads of other stuff. It's the same excuse they’ve been giving us for years—whether it was Qatari money, cement, or anything else going into Gaza. And it always comes with that same neat justification: 'Yes to civilians, no to Hamas.'"
Ofer reminded Maariv that the ideology in Gaza is consistently rooted in deep hatred of Israel: “When our soldiers entered homes in Gaza, they reported finding weapons in every third house and Hamas propaganda in every child’s bedroom."
"That doesn’t mean every Gazan is a Hamas operative, but even the few Gazans now protesting against Hamas rule are angry at the destruction caused by the war—not at the ideology that led to it: the desire to erase Israel from the map.”
Israel's war conduct
Ofer then launches into a sharp critique of Israel’s conduct: “How did we get to a situation where, after a year and a half of war, after losing hundreds of soldiers -- we are once again preparing the ground for aid transfers, reopening crossings, and once again taking on the responsibility of feeding two million Gazans?"
"Yes, international law requires us not to interfere with third parties bringing aid in. The Geneva Convention obligates Israel not to prevent Egypt from sending aid and to allow Egypt to receive refugees from Gaza. That’s the obligation. Why are we doing more than that? When we take responsibility for the Gazans, we also send the world a message that we feel guilty for the situation.”
According to Ofer, this is the result of a lack of strategic decisiveness: “We can't seem to decide if we want to be an occupying force in Gaza or not. If not, why are we responsible? Why are we the ones opening the Kerem Shalom crossing? It’s absurd. We’re about to build an entire military strategy based on the same concept that already failed in the past. You can’t solve a problem using the same thinking that created it.”
He also pointed to past statements by senior government officials, which now seem like ironic reminders of what's happened since: “On October 2023, Israel Katz declared: ‘Not a single power switch will be flipped, no water valve opened, and no fuel truck will enter until the hostages are returned.’
"In reality, Hamas has paid no real price. If anything, it has benefited—Israel feeds the population in its place, and Hamas can continue firing, inciting, and holding hostages as bargaining chips."
"We’ve failed to apply pressure on Hamas where it matters most—its desire to retain control over Gaza City. Instead, we’re going back, just like a year ago, to thinking we can defeat Hamas in Rafah.”
And the future? Ofer isn’t optimistic.
“If there’s no hostage deal that benefits Hamas, we’ll be dragged into another military operation—possibly even broader. That means more reserve call-ups, more fighting in neighborhoods, more lost lives. And why? Because we haven’t learned the most basic lesson: you don’t strengthen your enemy by trying to artificially separate Hamas from the Gazan population."
"The essential condition for Israel’s security is not being responsible for two million Gazans.”
He ended the interview with a warning: “If Hamas doesn’t clean up the mess they made—we’ll find ourselves back inside Gaza, with hostages, with IDF divisions, and with the illusion that one day, someone else will rule there. Hamas won’t disappear with economic reconstruction. If you believe that, I have a tweet from Israel Katz on October 9th to show you.”