‘Final Hostages Are Home’ Palestinian Who Escaped from Hamas Speaks Out About Gaza’s Future

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In this episode of The Brink, we are joined by Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a Gaza-born analyst and one of the most prominent moderate Palestinian voices. Drawing on his upbringing in Gaza and his work today as a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, Ahmed offers a rare and deeply personal account of life under Hamas.

Ahmed describes how Hamas systematically groomed children through schools, mosques, and summer camps, recounting his own childhood experiences of indoctrination, intimidation, and early encounters with Hamas leadership. He explains how the group transformed religious spaces into propaganda hubs, used violence to impose social control, and built a generational system of radicalisation that many in the West still fail to understand.

The conversation turns to Gaza today. Ahmed outlines the existence of two parallel societies, one living in extreme deprivation and another protected by access to salaries, aid networks, and Hamas-controlled taxation systems. He exposes how aid is diverted, how hospitals are used as centres of repression and torture, and how Hamas has rebuilt its finances since the ceasefire through taxation and intimidation.

We also examine the Muslim Brotherhood playbook, its influence in the UK and across the West, and why moderate Palestinian voices are often silenced by intimidation from Islamist networks. Finally, Ahmed sets out a stark assessment of Gaza’s future, the failure of the so-called peace mechanisms currently being proposed, and what would actually be required to dismantle Hamas and give Palestinians a genuine chance at a different future.

This is a sobering, courageous, and essential conversation about extremism, truth, and the human cost of allowing ideology to triumph over reality.

Watch the full uncut interview HERE: https://open.substack.com/pub/thebrinkpodcast/p/final-hostages-are-home-palestinian?r=63dafp&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

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Chapters

00:00 Introduction

03:18 Early Indoctrination & Life in UNRWA Schools

06:35 The Second Intifada & Radicalisation of Children

10:12 Personal Encounters with Hamas Leaders

14:50 Mosques, Schools & the Indoctrination Pipeline

16:53 The Muslim Brotherhood Playbook Explained

21:06 Groomed by Hamas & the Road to Asylum

24:03 Exporting Radicalisation to the West

27:07 Why Moderate Muslims Are Silenced

29:00 The UK’s Blind Spot on Islamist Networks

30:02 Saudi Arabia, Abraham Accords & Regional Power

32:04 Why Gaza Must Reject the “Resistance Narrative”

35:12 A Pragmatic Path Forward for Palestinians

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