Amalthia – Charity or American Trojan Horse in Gaza?

Washington’s recent announcement to activate Operation Amalthia, and a Greek Cypriot plan proposed months ago, to supply the Palestinians with food and other supplies for the civilian Palestinian population of the war-torn Gaza Strip, caused more concern and suspicion than complacency and hope among the long-suffering Palestinians of the Strip.

The concern and suspicion of the Palestinians of Gaza about the intentions of the Americans is due to several factors, e.g. how is it possible that the US, which is responsible for the suffering of Palestinian women and children, supporting and arming Israel, wants to help the Palestinians without cutting off support to Tel Aviv? Why did Tel Aviv express its “delight” over the American plan? Why has Israel, alongside the start of US port construction work, reportedly begun rebuilding the main Saladin Avenue that runs the length of the Strip from north to south?

For its part, Hamas does not seem, in the first instance, to disagree with Operation Amalthia regarding its food arm, as Hamas seeks the immediate end of famine in the Strip and the alleviation of the unprecedented plight of the Palestinian population. But how will food and supplies be channeled from American ships to the civilian population?

Hamas has told the Americans that the only way to get cargo inside the Strip is through Hamas’s government network in the Strip, warning that it will not accept acquiescence from Washington regarding the possible role of the Palestinian Authority in a such possibility.

Washington’s ongoing naval and land involvement in Gaza with Operation Amalthia is the first by a Western country in Palestinian history since 1948, after British colonialism was disengaged from Palestine. This fact reflects the criticality of the circumstances for US-Israeli interests as a consequence of the ongoing Israeli Waterloo of October 7 and the subsequent five-month-plus war.

So the question is whether the US intends to cooperate with Hamas in distributing food, at a time when the US maintains no contact with the Islamist movement. Could the US-Taliban cooperation model in Afghanistan be selectively applied to the Gaza Strip? As the deployment of UN peacekeeping forces is possible only after a cease-fire, US-Hamas cooperation is presented as the only feasible option in Gaza’s state of war.

However, in the medium term, the US may seek to use food as a Trojan Horse for the overthrow of Hamas and the arrival of the Palestinian Authority in the Strip. In such an eventuality they could organize a humanitarian force of pro-Western Arab countries that would take over the distribution from the port to key points inland with Israel’s military cover. In this case the US-Israeli calculation is that it will be difficult for Hamas to torpedo the food supply of the starving Palestinians, because such an action would create a rift in the torn Hamas-Palestinian front and open the way for the return of the Palestinian Authority .

In this context, Hamas warned the residents in the previous days not to cooperate with the Americans and other forces that may be deployed near the port. At the same time, Hamas is preparing for any eventuality, even for a regional escalation, in consultation with its allies in the region, if the US uses Amalthia as a Trojan Horse and a bridgehead for the overthrow of the Palestinian resistance in the Strip within two months and after the previous possible Israeli attack on Rafah. Whether the US-Israeli plans will be implemented is up to the strongest party to prove it on the battlefield.