As Gaza endures one of the most brutal sieges in modern history, new revelations have emerged that Israel is not only restricting humanitarian aid but actively manipulating its distribution through violent proxies. 

In a startling admission, former Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman confirmed that the Israeli government has funded and deployed ISIS-linked gangs within Gaza to loot aid convoys and destabilize internal order. 

This covert strategy, largely absent from mainstream reporting, reveals a broader pattern: the systematic weaponization of humanitarian relief as part of Israel’s ongoing campaign to depopulate and control Gaza.

The Military Siege: Weaponizing Aid as a Tool of Ethnic Cleansing in Gaza

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has emerged as a controversial player in the ongoing siege of Gaza. Backed by Israel and established as a U.S.-based initiative, GHF is widely viewed as a tool to legitimize Israel’s military occupation and ethnic cleansing strategy under the guise of humanitarian aid. 

Its board is comprised primarily of U.S. veterans and political figures, including Lieutenant General Mark C. Schwartz, former U.S. Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Critics, including leading human rights organizations, argue that GHF’s primary objective is not to provide relief but to facilitate the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza.

GHF operates only a small number of the 400 distribution points in the territory, mainly focusing on central and southern Gaza. Its plan, which aims to serve just 1 million people through Israeli-controlled checkpoints, reinforces Israel’s broader strategy of forced displacement masked as “voluntary emigration.” 

This design forces civilians in northern Gaza—already devastated by bombing and infrastructure collapse—to walk long, dangerous distances in search of aid. Many are injured, disabled, or lack safe passage, making access nearly impossible. 

By coordinating aid exclusively through Israeli-approved channels, GHF serves as a military tool for the Zionist regime and is held up by Israeli officials as evidence of cooperation with international law, despite its fundamentally coercive intent.

The Broader Siege and Manufactured Famine

The Zionist entity’s genocidal tactics involve the weaponization of aid amid an expanding occupation of the Gaza Strip. 

Israel’s deliberate starvation of Palestinians is not an accidental byproduct of war—it is the continuation of an 18-year blockade and systemic isolation of Gaza that began in the early 1990s and intensified in 2007 after Hamas took control of the territory. 

Today, Gaza faces its worst humanitarian crisis since the Nakba of 1948, with over 2.1 million Palestinians suffering from food shortages, malnutrition, and preventable death.

On December 9, 2023, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini wrote:

“Earlier this week, I wrote to the president of the United Nations General Assembly to inform him that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency’s ability to continue delivering its mandate in Gaza has become very limited. In my 35 years of work in complex emergencies, I would never have expected to write such a letter, which predicted the killing of my staff and the collapse of the mandate I am expected to fulfill.”

By March 2, 2025, the aid blockade had grown even harsher. Although Israel occasionally allows aid in, the amount permitted is insufficient to meet the needs of even 10% of the population.

Politicized Aid and Medical Destruction

Israel’s strategy aims to maximize Palestinian casualties while weaponizing humanitarian aid for political gain. The IDF routinely bombs hospitals and medical infrastructure, causing the spread of disease and increasing injury-related deaths. 

Those who survive bombings and prison-like conditions face a man-made famine, ecological destruction, and the absence of water or shelter. While Israel publicly stages aid drops to ease international criticism, these performative acts obscure the reality: a policy of deliberate starvation and displacement.

Simultaneously, Israel supports ISIS-affiliated gangs that disrupt aid distribution. This dual strategy turns humanitarian assistance into a weapon, furthering its campaign of ethnic cleansing while painting Palestinians as responsible for their own suffering.

Strategy 2: Backing ISIS-Affiliated Aid Looters

In addition to manipulating formal aid mechanisms like GHF, Israel facilitates chaos on the ground through proxies. ISIS-affiliated gangs, led by figures such as Yasser Abu Shabab and Shadi Al-Soufi, operate in Israeli-controlled territories within Gaza. 

Abu Shabab leads a group of about 100 armed men from a Bedouin clan in Rafah that reportedly identifies with Salafi jihadist ideology. Al-Soufi, previously imprisoned by Hamas for allegedly spying for Israel, escaped during an Israeli bombing and returned to Gaza with the help of ISIS.

In November 2024, these gangs seized 98 out of 109 aid trucks entering Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing.  Avigdor Lieberman, a leading opposition figure, confirmed that the Netanyahu government funds and deploys these gangs. 

In a June 5, 2025 interview with Kan Bet public radio, Lieberman directly accused the Netanyahu government of arming these extremist militias, describing them as “identified with ISIS” and claiming:

“The Israeli government is giving weapons to a group of criminals and felons, identified with Islamic State, at the direction of the prime minister,”

In response, Netanyahu defended the move, stating: “What’s wrong with it? It’s only good. It saves the lives of IDF soldiers.”

This tactic allows Israel to deflect blame, portraying Hamas as the primary obstacle to aid while simultaneously engineering the conditions that prevent its distribution.

Political and Strategic Implications

Israel’s manipulation of aid serves multiple purposes: discrediting Palestinian governance, fostering internal unrest, and presenting a sanitized image of occupation to the world. 

By controlling aid routes and funding destabilizing elements within Gaza, Israel exacerbates humanitarian suffering to achieve political ends. This approach pressures Hamas into concessions while systematically depopulating the territory through unlivable conditions.

Lieberman’s public disclosure was not motivated by moral outrage, but political opportunism. As a figure with prior experience funding extremist militias in Syria, his goal was to strengthen opposition forces within Israeli politics—not to challenge the broader policy of genocide. 

His statements underscore how deeply normalized and bipartisan these tactics have become within Israeli governance. From using politically coordinated aid foundations like the GHF to backing extremist militias, Israel’s siege is not just a military blockade—it is a multilayered assault on Palestinian survival.