JERUSALEM (VINnews) — According to a report by Channel 12 News, officials in the Israel Defense Forces and Israel’s defense establishment believe the time has come to significantly reduce the amount of humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip.

According to sources familiar with the matter, the approach that prevailed in the early days after the war is no longer considered relevant, and officials now argue that there is no genuine shortage in Gaza that would justify the entry of around 600 aid trucks per day.

Data reportedly indicates a major gap between the humanitarian needs on the ground and the amount of aid actually being delivered. A defense official said that “every day, Gaza receives food supplies amounting to four times the quantity required according to the UN’s official methodology.” Officials also claim that the relative abundance is enabling Hamas to exploit the situation for economic gain and renewed strengthening.

Israeli security officials believe that the vast majority of the aid ultimately reaches Hamas. According to the report, the organization imposes taxes on Gaza merchants at rates reaching up to 30%, with the money allegedly being funneled directly into Hamas’s military and governing infrastructure.

“The humanitarian aid has become an economic engine for Hamas, bringing hundreds of millions of shekels into its coffers at the expense of the civilian population,” military sources were quoted as saying.

While Israel continues to uphold its part of the agreements, security officials warned that Hamas is using the ceasefire strategically to rebuild its civilian and governmental capabilities. According to them, Hamas ministries and municipal authorities have resumed operating almost fully, allowing the organization to reestablish itself as the governing authority in Gaza.

Officials claim this activity includes aggressive taxation in markets ranging between 15% and 30%, looting aid shipments, and smuggling attempts, all while Hamas continues refusing to meet what Israel describes as the core conditions of the ceasefire agreement, especially the demand that it disarm.

According to the report, the accumulating violations by Hamas are pushing the diplomatic arena toward a breaking point. It states that Nikolay Mladenov, identified in the article as head of the “Peace Council,” is reportedly close to making a dramatic declaration that Israel is no longer bound by the ceasefire agreement because Hamas is allegedly violating it extensively.

Israeli officials added that Mladenov has so far refrained from taking such a step only because of heavy pressure from mediating countries attempting to preserve the agreement through compromise formulas.

Nevertheless, Israeli military officials stressed that the current situation, in which humanitarian aid is, in their words, helping sustain Hamas rule, “cannot continue,” concluding that Hamas’s refusal to disarm and its alleged takeover of resources require Israel to “recalculate its course.”