The militant organization known as Hamas has been an ongoing problem for the Gaza Strip, yet it now faces a significant crisis as its level of control wanes, and support diminishes due to internal calls for ending the conflict and releasing hostages taken during the October 7, 2023 incidents.
“Hamas’s current behavior indicates a pivotal moment in its control over the Gaza Strip,” shared Joe Truzman, a senior research analyst and editor with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, to Fox News Digital. He explained that, by rejecting a new aid distribution plan organized by the U.S. and Israel, Hamas demonstrates that its main objective is not the welfare of the Palestinian people but rather maintaining its dominance.
Even in the face of a prolonged aid blockade by Israel that has led to images of famine, Hamas has recently issued threats to Palestinian civilians who seek to accept food assistance for their families, stating they “will pay the price, and we will take the necessary measures.”
Displaced Palestinians line up pans to collect hot food from a charity food distribution center in Gaza City, northern Gaza, on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (Photographer: Ahmad Salem/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Israel and Egypt have limited the flow of goods into the Gaza Strip for the last two decades, and border crossing restrictions have been heavily enforced since the 1980s. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2025.
However, according to a report by the Wilson Center, only a fraction of the population prior to the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks blamed food shortages on external factors like sanctions, while a third blamed the Hamas-run government for mismanagement, while another quarter of the population blamed inflation.
The report also found that nearly half of Palestinian civilians said they had no trust in Hamas’ leadership, while roughly a third of the population threw their support behind the group.
Support is believed to have dropped in the nearly 600 days that followed the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attacks, and the subsequent devastation brought to the Gaza Strip.
Displaced Palestinians wait to receive a free meal from a charity food distribution center in Gaza City, northern Gaza, on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (Photographer: Ahmad Salem/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“If the new aid mechanism succeeds in improving living conditions for Palestinians, surpassing what Hamas has been able to provide during wartime, it is unlikely to reverse the growing public dissatisfaction with the group,” Truzman told Fox News Digital. “Even an imperfect but externally managed aid system may further expose Hamas’s governance failures, particularly its prioritization of power retention over the welfare of the population.
“While tangible improvements will take time to materialize, the mere perception that life can improve without Hamas may be enough to shift public attitudes further against the group,” he added.
