Introduction
According to a January 18 NBC report, a Trump transition official, Steven Witkoff, said: "If we don't help the Gazans, if we don't make their life better, if we don't give them a sense of hope, there's going to be a rebellion."[1]
Witkoff is planning to visit the Gaza Strip.[2] What he will see is ruins – but what he needs to know is that before October 7, 2023, Gaza was thriving economically. Proof of this was broadcast by Al-Jazeera, BBC, and TRT, and shown in videos posted by Gazans on social media (see below).
Hamas was willing to sacrifice all of this in pursuit of its goal, in accordance with its charter and its Islamist religious belief, of annihilating Israel and the Jews.
Gaza Before October 7
Abd Al-Salam Haniyeh, son of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, testified to the beauty of Gaza before the war, telling SamaQuds in an interview that aired August 15, 2024: "The kind of beauty that was there could not be found in many Arab countries." He added that his father Ismail had said that "[Jared] Kushner [told] a mediator that he wanted to come over, and reach an agreement about the Deal of the Century, and the establishment of a [Palestinian] state in Gaza, and billions would be spent on Gaza, and they would hand over the weapons of the resistance, and so on..." but that Ismail had said "May our hands be paralyzed if we sign an agreement that will separate Gaza from Palestine."[3]
Hamas senior official Ali Baraka stressed how Hamas had worked to give the impression "that it wanted to focus on the 2.5 million Palestinians [in Gaza]," in an interview on Russia Today (RT) TV on October 8, 2023.[4]
MEMRI's report on Gaza prior to October 7, 2023, Parts I-VIII, presents videos, photos and data on life in Gaza – all of them from Palestinian, Arab, UN and other non-Israeli media sources – and provides a general picture of the Gaza Strip: its residential areas and tower blocks, its universities and other higher education institutions, its health facilities and hospitals, its banks and financial institutions, its malls and markets, its refugee camps, and its recreation facilities such as the water park, music center, and zoo. It also presented data on standards of living, income, and infrastructure such as a water desalination plant in Gaza.[5]
*Yigal Carmon is President and Founder of MEMRI.
[1] Nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-middle-east-steve-witkoff-consider-visit-gaza-strip-rcna188274, January 18, 2025.
[2] Msn.com/en-us/politics/government/trump-s-mideast-envoy-confirms-plan-to-visit-gaza-to-ensure-ceasefire-deal-implemented/ar-AA1xxUqL, January 20, 2025.
[3] See MEMRI TV Clip No. 11415, Abd Al-Salam Haniyeh, Son Of Slain Hamas Leader: People Who Came To Gaza In Recent Years Couldn't Believe How Beautiful It Was, With Its Buildings, Promenades, Restaurants – More Than Many Arab Countries, August 15, 2024.
[4] See MEMRI TV Clip No. 10511, Senior Hamas Official Ali Baraka: We Have Been Secretly Planning The Invasion For Two Years; Russia Sympathizes With Us, Benefits From U.S. Embroilment In This War; Any Swap Deal Should Include Hamas Prisoners In Europe And The U.S., October 8, 2023.
[5] See MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis No. 1742, Parts I-VIII: The Face Of The 'Suffocating Occupation,' 'Humanitarian Disaster,' 'Concentration Camp,' And 'Prison Camp' Of Pre-War Gaza – In Pictures And Data (An Answer To António Guterres, Benjamin Netanyahu, Norman Finkelstein, David Cameron, Ron Paul, February 13, 2024.