Hamas Preventing Gaza Rehabilitation, Causing Humanitarian Crisis, Israeli President Warns

“The entire world must know and understand that the ones who are preventing rehabilitation are Hamas,” Rivlin said of the looming crisis in Gaza. 

By: Max Gelber, United with Israel

President Reuven Rivlin on Sunday visited the Gaza border area, where he stated that “the entire world must know and understand that the ones who are preventing rehabilitation are Hamas,” which rule the Gaza Strip and invest in terrorism, rather than in its population.

Rivlin received a security review from Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Gen. Aviv Kochavi, Southern Command chief Maj. Gen. Eyal Zamir and Head of the IDF Gaza Division Col. Yehuda Fuchs. The commanders provided the President with a detailed report of the efforts to end the threat of the terror tunnels, among other operational issues.

Rivlin stated that Israel “will not rest until there is quiet, until we have built a barrier of iron, a wall of iron, which together with Iron Dome will defend the residents from those who wish them ill.”

Israel is building an underground barrier surrounding the Gaza Strip, an obstacle that will eventually eliminate any possibility of digging tunnels from Gaza into Israel. Israel has also developed new technology, which coupled with intelligence, enables the IDF to detect and destroy exiting tunnels. The IDF has successfully demolished three such tunnels in recent months.

“The day will come when they [Palestinians] will understand that we are here to stay and flourish,” Rivlin stated.

Think About Your Future

The Israeli leader further warned that “the time is coming near, when the infrastructure in Gaza will collapse, leaving many civilians in distress, with no sanitary conditions, exposed to pollution, impure water, and epidemics. The entire world must know and understand that the ones who are preventing rehabilitation are Hamas.”

“Israel is the only one in the region, that whatever the situation, transfers basic essentials to the residents of Gaza, so that they can sustain the body and mind,” Rivlin said, adding that Israel will “not tolerate accusations of blame.”

He called on “all world nations, to all who are able, and have the influence, to pressure those ruling Gaza, to pressure Hamas, to accept responsibility for their actions and the lives of their people.”

Israel has repeatedly warned that Hamas is investing heavily in its terror infrastructure rather than in building Gaza, and has exposed several cases in which Hamas has exploited Humanitarian aid and organizations to promote their vast terrorism machine.

Last week, Maj.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai of the IDF’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) blasted Hamas, saying that “instead of investing millions in the fields of education and medicine, they buried it underground, and now all of it has disappeared into oblivion.”

Last month, Minister of Defense Avigdor Liberman addressed the residents of Gaza directly, saying, “I suggest you think about your children, their future, and start pressing Hamas leaders to change direction. Right now it’s a flight to nowhere, but if you change the direction, believe me, you’ll build a good future here. For your children, start putting pressure on the Hamas leadership.”