Hamas warns of Israeli ‘detention camps’ in southern Gaza under guise of aid

Hamas has warned that Israel is planning to establish detention camps in the southern Gaza Strip under the guise of providing aid.

The movement clarified that Israel is using the restriction of aid to Gaza as a political and security tool, in what it called a strategy of “engineered starvation”, paving the way for a new reality that includes the creation of detention camps in the south of the Strip.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the group said, “The occupation continues to engineer starvation in Gaza. The current aid is nothing more than a drop in the ocean compared to the humanitarian needs.”

Hamas stressed that the aid entering Gaza represents less than ten per cent of the actual needs, warning that “famine is expanding day by day”.

The statement rejected what it called “the ghetto aid plan”, describing it as an attempt to whitewash the ongoing genocide. “This plan will not absolve the occupation of responsibility,” it said, warning that “the scheme to set up detention camps in the south under the pretext of humanitarian aid will fail.”

Hamas reiterated its demand for a “permanent humanitarian corridor, a complete lifting of the siege, and an end to the manipulation of hunger and humanitarian blackmail.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that Tel Aviv is just days away from implementing a new aid system for Gaza. He also said he intends to establish a “sterile zone” free of Hamas, where civilians will be relocated and supplied with basic necessities.

Netanyahu also indicated his willingness to end the war if Hamas releases all hostages, relinquishes power, and if US President Donald Trump’s proposal to relocate Gaza’s population outside the Strip is carried out.

Under international pressure, Israel has recently allowed dozens of aid trucks into Gaza, after blocking nearly all food, medicine, fuel, and other supplies for almost three months.

However, the United Nations reported on Wednesday that the aid had still not reached Palestinian civilians two days after the convoys were allowed in.

READ: New Gaza aid plans would increase children’s suffering, UNICEF says