Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib: NGO admits Hamas controls Gaza's hospitals. Why now?
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 21 February 2026
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, the head of Realign For Palestine, an Atlantic Council project that challenges entrenched narratives in the Israel and Palestine discourse.
We begin the conversation with a bleak update on how Gazans are faring on the ground and hear anecdotes of poor hygiene and price gouging in the Strip. As the festive holy month of Ramadan begins, the lack of basic necessities becomes more stark for those who must fast all day but cannot feast at night.
We then turn to the sudden announcement this week from Doctors Without Borders that it has suspended non-critical medical activities at Nasser Hospital in Gaza’s Khan Younis due to the presence of armed men at the medical facility and “a recent situation of suspicion of movement of weapons.”
Alkhatib brings multiple examples of prior knowledge of the "armed men" in the hospital since Hamas's October 7, 2023, onslaught on southern Israel. He accuses the NGO of looking the other way as the terror organization took over hospital wings and turned them into prisons and torture chambers. So why did the international humanitarian group in Gaza decide to take notice now?
And so this week, we ask Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, what matters now.
What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ari Schlacht.
IMAGE: Palestinians hang decorations beside the rubble of destroyed homes as they prepare for the holy month of Ramadan in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Times of Israel's What Matters Now. I'm your host deputy editor Amanda Borschal Dan here with our monthly conversation with Ahmed Fulad al-Katib. |
| 0:13.9 | Ahmed, it is always such a pleasure to be with you here. |
| 0:17.5 | Thank you for having me. I always look forward to speaking with you. |
| 0:20.6 | It is, of course, behooves me to mention that you for having me. I always look forward to speaking with you. |
| 0:26.5 | It is, of course, behooves me to mention that you are the director of Realign for Palestine, |
| 0:32.2 | which is part of the Atlantic Council. And your mission essentially is to increase dialogue between Palestinians and Israelis and to think out of the box about all of these matters. |
| 0:38.4 | But I have to say, first of all, Ramadan Karim, right? |
| 0:42.1 | Happy your Ramadan? |
| 0:43.3 | Yes, thank you. |
| 0:44.5 | It begins this evening. |
| 0:47.6 | For I think for the first time in a while, I think most Muslims are starting at the same time. |
| 0:54.1 | So, yes. Right. That is always an interesting thing, as you starting at the same time. So yes. |
| 0:55.3 | Right. |
| 0:55.6 | That is always an interesting thing. |
| 0:57.4 | As you know, the Jewish calendar also has a bit of a wiggle room in terms of the moon and all that kind of stuff. |
| 1:03.3 | And we always wait to find out when exactly Ramadan will be. |
| 1:07.2 | So Ramadan Karim. |
| 1:09.4 | And I first of all just want to talk about the status on the ground in |
| 1:12.8 | Gaza and whether it can be a festive Ramadan there for anyone, essentially. |
| 1:19.5 | Well, once again, good to be with you. Unfortunately, the updates this time around continue |
| 1:24.7 | to degrade in line with my predictions that nothing really good is happening |
| 1:31.2 | on the ground. So we have, and by the way, since we last spoke, we formalized a relationship |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Times of Israel, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Times of Israel and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.