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John Spencer reminds us that Israel’s supply of humanitarian aid to an enemy population has no precedent in the history of warfare. More on this can be found here: “Israel’s wartime Gaza aid is historically unprecedented – opinion,” by John Spencer, Jerusalem Post, July 28, 2025:
Many things can be true at the same time.
Flooding Gaza with humanitarian aid is the right, moral thing to do. A military must balance its operational objectives with humanitarian imperatives, including the prevention of starvation and the protection of civilian life. A military can restrict the flow of humanitarian supplies if the enemy is diverting them for its own purposes. And it is also true that civilian populations are routinely moved out of combat zones to reduce harm and ensure more effective delivery of humanitarian assistance.
These are all basic truths of war, well established in both military practice and international law.
But there is another truth that must be acknowledged. One that is rarely said out loud, despite being plain and provable: There is no historical precedent for a military providing the level of direct aid to an enemy population that Israel has provided to Gaza.
This aid has taken place:
While the war is ongoing
While the enemy, Hamas, continues to control territory
And while that enemy is still fighting, launching attacks, and holding hostages
Israel is delivering fuel, food, medicine, and water into territory still under the command of the very group that murdered its civilians on October 7, that continues to fire rockets into Israeli towns, and that openly declares it will repeat those atrocities again and again.
There is no precedent for how this should be done
There is no precedent for this. None….
It is easy to criticize Israel for the humanitarian costs of its war. It is much harder to hold Hamas accountable for embedding its fighters in schools, hospitals, and civilian neighborhoods. And harder still to acknowledge when a military is doing something not just legal, but extraordinary.
The truth matters. And the truth is that no military in modern history has delivered more aid to an enemy population during active war than the Israel Defense Forces have to Gaza. That fact stands, regardless of whether anyone wants to say it out loud.
Let’s repeat that, over and over again, to those who keep maligning Israel for not providing enough humanitarian aid: no military in modern history has delivered more aid to an enemy population during active war than the Israel Defense Forces.
