Trump plans to ‘take over’ Gaza in the guise of ‘humanitarian aid’ program: Activist

By Alireza Akbari

What is being described as “humanitarian aid” is, in fact, a strategic attempt to implement US President Donald Trump’s plan to “take over” the Gaza Strip, says a Gaza-based activist.

In an interview with the Press TV website, Wissam Hammed, a 26-year-old social activist from Gaza, questioned the true motives behind the so-called “humanitarian” intervention by the US.

At a joint press conference on February 4, 2025, Trump stood alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and declared that the US “will take over the Gaza Strip.”

According to Hammed, the US plan to take control of Gaza is already underway, with four distribution points established across the territory, three in the south and one at the Netzarim corridor.

He noted that the concentration of distribution points in the southern part of Gaza is not accidental, but rather a calculated move designed to force residents of the north to relocate south in order to receive essential aid.

“The goal behind setting three distribution points in south Gaza is to push the residents of northern Gaza to move south, effectively emptying the north of its population in exchange for receiving aid,” Hammed told the Press TV website.

“This is known as humanitarian aid in exchange for displacement and depopulation.”

Hammed said that the campaign of “killing, destroying homes, and occupying land in Gaza” forms part of a broader Israeli-American “plan to fully control the Strip.”

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has assumed alarming proportions following Israel’s renewed genocidal campaign since March 18, 2025, when it breached a ceasefire agreement with the Gaza-based resistance group Hamas.

The Tel Aviv regime subsequently reimposed a full blockade on the coastal Palestinian territory and resumed intensive bombardments, leading to worsening famine and depriving its population of basic necessities, including food and medicine.

After weeks of complete blockade, Israel announced on May 18 that it would permit limited humanitarian aid into Gaza.

According to a report published by the Palestinian news agency Quds News Network on May 25, only three UN aid trucks were allowed into northern Gaza for the first time in over 84 days.

The limited delivery triggered scenes of desperation, with hundreds of residents scrambling for food, an ordeal captured in widely shared video footage.

The United Nations has warned that Gaza needs between 500 and 600 aid trucks per day to meet the minimum humanitarian needs of its 2.3 million residents.

According to human rights activists, the Israeli regime has weaponised starvation and food scarcity as tools of collective punishment in the Gaza Strip.

The young Palestinian activist, who has refused to leave his homeland amid the ongoing genocide, stressed that the so-called “humanitarian aid,” which has been recently allowed to Gaza, does not meet even a fraction of the needs of the population in the Gaza Strip.

“It is extremely, extremely limited compared to what the people truly need,” he said.

According to Hammed, the underlying purpose of this restricted aid flow is not to alleviate suffering, but rather to temper international criticism.

“This aid is symbolic, meant to reduce international pressure on Israel to permit humanitarian assistance into Gaza,” he told the Press TV website.

The young activist stressed that this recent Israeli-American strategy follows what he described as the “complete failure” of previous Israeli-American bids to depopulate northern Gaza.

“This is now the time to implement the plan to evacuate the entire population of northern Gaza, after the complete failure of previous plots, such as the Generals' Plan and many others—all of which failed in the face of the Palestinian people's steadfastness in Gaza,” he noted.

The young activist went on to criticize the international community’s inaction in the face of the Israeli genocide in Gaza, which has claimed more than 54,000 lives so far in 600 days.

“As a Palestinian, I say that all the statements circulating in the media from politicians and officials are made simply to please the public – statements of condemnation and denunciation – yet nothing is implemented on the ground,” he said.

Hammed described the ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza as an “exacerbated and unabated genocide,” carried out to “shield Netanyahu” and allow him to “portray himself as victorious” in a war of annihilation against Gaza, which began in October 2023 and is now in its 19th month.

According to Hammed, the intensifying violence and humanitarian catastrophe are being driven by “political and economic goals, aimed at advancing Israel’s objectives in the region.”

He noted that the Tel Aviv regime “seeks to impose its control and achieve its settlement interests at the expense of Palestinian rights,” rather than making efforts for peace.

The activist appealed to people worldwide to uphold justice and stand against oppression.

“To freedom seekers: stand by justice and oppose oppression and tyranny wherever it occurs—including in Palestine. Let us all unite for human rights and justice, and work together to achieve a lasting and fair peace for all humanity,” he said in a passionate appeal.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk