During an interview with Ilay David, the brother of Hamas hostage Evyatar David, aired on Thursday’s broadcast of NPR’s “Morning Edition,” co-host Leila Fadel responded to Ilay saying that Hamas is starving the hostages, like they do the people of Gaza by saying that “aid groups that work on food distribution have told NPR they haven’t seen the systematic theft of food meant for civilians. The starvation, they say, is because of an Israeli blockade on Gaza and a new distribution process that is described as a death trap.”
Ilay said, [relevant remarks begin around 1:20] “Hamas must let at least the Red Cross visit and give them long-term, proper treatment. They starve the hostages intentionally. All of it is part of their sick, twisted mind game. They use my brother as part of their starvation campaign. It really scars humanity.”
Fadel then asked, “Can I ask what you mean by starvation campaign? I’m just trying to understand, because we’re seeing images of a lot of people starving in Gaza also, because aid is not getting in generally. So, I guess I’m just trying to understand what you mean.”
Ilay answered, “Sure. So, I’m not denying that there’s hunger in [the] Gaza Strip. But I believe that Hamas, as a cruel organization, is using its own people as starvation experiments. There’s enough humanitarian aid that goes into the Gaza Strip to feed all the population there. But Hamas [is] cynically using that aid to decide who lives and who dies.”
Fadel then said, “Ilay is echoing what the Israeli government and President Trump have said, that Hamas is systematically stealing aid meant for Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Proof of that, though, has not been presented publicly. Meanwhile, aid groups that work on food distribution have told NPR they haven’t seen the systematic theft of food meant for civilians. The starvation, they say, is because of an Israeli blockade on Gaza and a new distribution process that is described as a death trap.”
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