Mike Huckabee, the new US ambassador to Israel, responded to the World Health Organization's request to pressure Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. He rejected the request and blamed Hamas, thereby supporting the "collective punishment" practiced by the Israeli occupation authorities against civilians in Gaza.

"What I would suggest is that we work together to apply pressure where it's appropriate — on Hamas," Huckabee said in a video statement posted to his Twitter account.

Huckabee called on Hamas to "sign an agreement" that would allow humanitarian aid to reach the people of Gaza. He said that when that happens, and the Israeli hostages are released, "we hope that this humanitarian aid will flow freely, knowing that it will be done without Hamas."

Hamas had offered to release all Israeli hostages in exchange for a permanent ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, but Israel refused. Israel also refused to fully implement the ceasefire agreement signed last January, which stipulated the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza. On March 2, Israel imposed a comprehensive blockade on all goods entering the Strip.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz stated last week that no humanitarian aid would be allowed into Gaza, describing the aid blockade as one of Israel's "central pressure tools" against Hamas. Katz also pledged an indefinite Israeli occupation of the territories seized by the Israeli military in Gaza.

Huckabee was expected to strongly support Israel's crimes against the Palestinians as U.S. ambassador, given his history of pushing for Israel's annexation of the West Bank, which he calls Judea and Samaria. He is a Christian Zionist who believes that the occupied Palestinian territory was given by God to the modern state of Israel.

It's worth noting that during a visit to an Israeli settlement in the West Bank in 2017, Huckabee claimed that the area was not under Israeli occupation. "I believe Israel has title to Judea and Samaria," Huckabee told CNN. "There are words I refuse to use. There's no such thing as the West Bank; there's Judea and Samaria. There are no settlements; they're communities, neighborhoods, cities; there's no occupation."

In 2008, Huckabee said that "there are no Palestinians" and called for the expulsion of Palestinians to other Arab countries.