Nations like Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are going to be crucial to the future of the Palestinian people trapped and famished in the Gaza Strip, so it was a positive development last week when those countries collectively called on Hamas to disarm and give up power in Gaza.

This was the first time such a collective declaration has been issued by the Arab League, which includes Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Iraq, and it’s a reminder that things in the Middle East don’t really follow the simplistic political binaries found in the United States. Hamas and its influence over Gaza is more of a scourge among its Arab neighbors than many Americans realize.

“Hamas must end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority, with international engagement and support,” the statement said, “in line with the objective of a sovereign and independent Palestinian State.”

How likely a once promising two-state solution is to become reality is up for debate, to say the least. But the Arab League’s views (and resources) surely matter more than performative gestures from European nations. The league made it clear that it believes Hamas has no future role in Gaza and should go away forever. “Governance, law enforcement and security across all Palestinian territory must lie solely with the Palestinian Authority,” it said.

Better than having Hamas in terrorizing charge, we all can agree.

Now an appropriate response from Israel, and from the U.S., would be to move aid far more expeditiously and at a greater scale into the Gaza Strip to alleviate the human suffering.

As the U.S. media well knows, facts in Gaza are difficult to ascertain amid an ongoing propaganda war, and we don’t doubt for a moment that some aid ends up in the wrong hands. We also note that Hamas has not freed all the Israeli hostages. But what civilized nation, confronted with hungry children, would not move to relieve that suffering?

The Arab League, which notably also resoundingly condemned the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, has taken a major step and its member nations appear ready to make real financial commitments toward the future of Gaza, too.

But nothing can move forward unless the children of Gaza get enough to eat.

— From Tribune News Service