On Tuesday’s broadcast of NPR’s “Morning Edition,” Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) stated that Israel’s argument that aid in Gaza is just being stolen by Hamas is “self-serving. And the reality is, Hamas will probably steal some food.” But there wasn’t starvation when more aid went into Gaza.
Co-host Leila Fadel asked, [relevant remarks begin around 2:00] “What do you make of the argument, Israel’s saying, well, the aid is just being stolen by Hamas, and that’s why this blockade has been going on?”
Welch responded, “It’s self-serving. And the reality is, Hamas will probably steal some food. But the reality is, that, when food was flowing, when we had 500 trucks going in, people weren’t starving. They were suffering. They were dislocated. There was bombing going [on] at places, including hospitals, that was killing aid workers in many cases. But the food was actually getting delivered to people. And the starvation that we’re seeing right now, literally with, as I mentioned, 14,000 babies subject to it in the next 48 hours, that was not happening. There was a regular flow of food, and people could at least count on going to a place where they’d have a meal for themselves and their children.”
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