A fearless elderly Palestinian woman defied Hamas during an interview with Al Jazeera, telling the media outlet that the terrorist group was stealing all the aid coming into Gaza.

The unidentified woman was widely praised for her bravery on Thursday after the Middle East Media Research Institute (Memri) posted a translated clip of the interview. The video went viral on social media.

“The clip was from a live Wednesday broadcast on Al Jazeera’s main Arabic station, which has long been a point of contention in the Middle East and has resulted in countries like Egypt, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia imposing different kinds of bans on the network. Al Jazeera is owned by the Qatari government, which hosts several Hamas leaders in Doha,” Mediaite reported.

Yair Rosenberg, a journalist with The Atlantic, posted on X, “What’s surprising here is not what this woman says, which is known, but that the Al Jazeera reporter let her say it without cutting her off, as has happened repeatedly on the channel when interviewees start criticizing Hamas or its patrons in Qatar and Turkey.”

What’s surprising here is not what this woman says, which is known, but that the Al Jazeera reporter let her say it without cutting her off, as has happened repeatedly on the channel when interviewees start criticizing Hamas or its patrons in Qatar and Turkey. https://t.co/cIsRJfeigI

— Yair Rosenberg (@Yair_Rosenberg) December 7, 2023

“Needless to say, this woman is extremely brave and yet another reminder that the people of Gaza ≠ Hamas,” Rosenberg claimed although many assert that the majority of those in Gaza support Hamas and protect the terrorists hiding there.

Needless to say, this woman is extremely brave and yet another reminder that the people of Gaza ≠ Hamas. https://t.co/AqCcfauj3Y

— Yair Rosenberg (@Yair_Rosenberg) December 7, 2023

The Al Jazeera reporter said to the woman, “You know that all the people here cannot find anything to eat or drink?”

“Yes, everybody is suffering,” the Palestinian woman told the reporter outside Nasser Hospital in Gaza’s Khan Yunis.

The reporter then made a statement the woman contested, “The situation is difficult. No aid is coming in.”

“All the aid goes to [the tunnels] underground. It does not reach all the people,” the woman angrily stated, catching the interviewer off-guard, adding, “I am not afraid [of Hamas], I am talking to them as well.”

At that point, the reporter cut the woman off as she was obviously not parroting the correct narrative.

“A lot of aid is coming. It is being distributed. This is what they say,” the Al Jazeera journalist claimed.

That bit of propaganda incensed the woman who wagged her finger at the reporter, telling him, “Hamas takes everything to their homes. They can take me, shoot me, or do whatever they want to me.”

The way she shakes her finger at him as try to “correct”her. Pure badass Grandma!

— gearboxphilly (@gearboxphilly) December 8, 2023

The interviewer quickly yanked the microphone away from the woman and haltingly stated, “It seems that the situation is unclear.”

When that reporter says “it seems the situation is unclear” It’s like a parody. This woman just laid the situation out for you as clearly as can be. What’s not to understand?

— JuliaMarkD2 (@JuliaMarkD2) December 7, 2023

Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) shared the clip of the woman, calling her a “hero.”

President Biden announced in November that the U.S. would send a large amount of humanitarian aid to Gaza to help the Palestinian people during the Israel-Hamas war.

“Let me be clear… if Hamas diverts or steals the assistance, they will have demonstrated once again that they have no concern for the welfare of the Palestinian people, and it will end,” Biden vowed in October. “As a practical matter, it will stop the international community from being able to provide this aid.”

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) also warned in November that there is a significant threat of aid diversion to Hamas and that it has happened before.

“USAID has identified this area as high-risk for potential diversion and misuse of U.S.-funded assistance,” the USAID Office of the Inspector General (OIG) noted.

So far, the Biden administration has not cut off assistance to Gaza despite reports of theft by Hamas.

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