More than 100 humanitarian groups call on Israel to end ‘weaponisation’ of aid

London: More than 100 aid groups have gone public about a border ban that has prevented at least 6 million meals from being taken into Gaza, saying Israel has rejected requests from dozens of organisations to move food by truck to Palestinians in need.

The organisations blamed the Israeli government for turning down 60 requests in July alone and said this meant Palestinians were being starved while food, medicine, water and shelter items were stranded in warehouses in Jordan and Egypt.

The Israeli military insisted on Wednesday that nearly 320 trucks had entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings and that a further 320-odd trucks had had their aid collected and distributed by the United Nations and international organisations in the previous 24 hours, along with three tankers of fuel and 97 pallets of air-dropped aid.

But the global aid groups released their own account of the blockages to highlight Israeli registration rules they say prevent more supplies from flowing into Gaza, issuing a rare joint statement from 104 organisations including CARE, Oxfam, Save the Children and Caritas.

The statement called for an “end to Israel’s weaponisation of aid” and said the government policy was leaving hospitals without basic supplies and people without food.

Save the Children Australia chief Mat Tinkler said the Israeli government had set up an “abhorrent” system that blocked aid.

“The updates we are getting are constant, and they’re increasingly distressing,” he told this masthead.

“Children are starving, our own staff are starving, and they are pleading to the world to hold the government of Israel to account here and let aid supplies through.”

Oxfam said it had more than $3.8 million in supplies that Israel had rejected from entering Gaza, including hygiene items and food.

Anera, a US aid group, said it had supplies worth $10.7 million blocked in Ashdod, 15 kilometres from Gaza, including 744 tonnes of rice, enough for 6 million meals.

The aid groups said Israel had changed rules in ways that meant most non-government organisations had been unable to move supplies into Gaza since March 2, and they blamed the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – set up with Israeli government approval – for making things worse.

Under the GHF system, Israel has replaced about 400 aid distribution points overseen by the United Nations with four points overseen by the Israeli military.

Tinkler said donations were still needed despite the blockages.

“My message to Australians is don’t give up. In our case, the hundreds of staff that we do have on the ground are still delivering life-saving support. Still, it’s not enough,” he said.

Anera chief executive Sean Carroll, who was chief of staff at USAID for three years during the Obama administration, said the solution was to allow thousands of trucks to move aid across the border.

‘The militarised food distribution scheme has weaponised starvation and curated suffering.’

Aitor Zabalgogeazkoa, MSF

“At this point, everyone knows what the correct, humane answer is, and it’s not a floating pier, airdrops or the GHF,” he said.

“The answer, to save lives, save humanity and save yourselves from complicity in engineered mass starvation, is to open all the borders, at all hours, to the thousands of trucks, millions of meals and medical supplies, ready and waiting nearby,” he said.

Medecins Sans Frontieres said the GHF aid distribution had led to “extreme levels of violence and killings”, and this was mostly of young Palestinian men, as well as some women and children.

“The militarised food distribution scheme has weaponised starvation and curated suffering,” said Aitor Zabalgogeazkoa, the MSF emergency co-ordinator in Gaza, in the joint statement.

The Israeli registration rules require the aid groups to disclose a deeper level of detail about all their operations, including the names of Palestinians involved, something the aid groups are unwilling to do.

Meanwhile, Israeli gunfire killed at least 25 people seeking aid in Gaza, health officials and witnesses said on Thursday, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again called for what he refers to as the voluntary migration of Palestinians from the war-ravaged territory.

“They’re not being pushed out; they’ll be allowed to exit,” he told Israeli television channel i24NEWS. “All those who are concerned for the Palestinians and say they want to help the Palestinians should open their gates and stop lecturing us.”

Arab leaders and many world leaders are aghast at the idea of displacing the Gaza population, which Palestinians say would be like another “Nakba” (catastrophe), when hundreds of thousands fled or were forced out during the 1948 war.

South Sudan’s Foreign Ministry has denied being in talks with Israel to resettle Palestinians from Gaza.

Earlier this week, the Associated Press, citing six people with knowledge of the matter, reported that Israel was holding discussions to resettle Palestinians in the East African nation.

Military misgivings

Israel’s planned re-seizure of Gaza City – which it took in the early days of the war, before withdrawing – is probably weeks away, officials say. That means a ceasefire is still possible, though talks have been floundering.

The New York Times reported that Israel’s top military commander, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, who officials say has cast doubt on the planned new offensive, is under increasing pressure, with one minister criticising him over the promotion of top officers and another suggesting he could be fired.

Zamir was worried about the exhaustion and fitness of reservists, risking the lives of Israeli hostages and potentially asking troops to govern millions of Palestinians, the newspaper cited officials speaking on the condition of anonymity as saying. Nonetheless, Israel’s security cabinet backed the plan.

The enclave has sustained massive fatalities from the nearly two-year war, with more than 61,000 deaths reported by the Hamas-run Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The latest deaths came a day after the Gaza Health Ministry reported 123 deaths over 24 hours, the worst figure in a week.

Shot while fleeing

Among those killed while seeking aid on Wednesday were 14 Palestinians in the Teina area, about three kilometres from a food distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, staff at Nasser Hospital said. Hashim Shamalah said Israeli troops opened fire as people tried to get through, and many were shot and fell while fleeing.

Israeli gunfire killed five other Palestinians while they were trying to reach another GHF distribution site in the Netzarim corridor area, according to Awda hospital and witnesses. The Israeli military said it was not aware of any casualties in that area, and the GHF said there were no incidents at or near its sites.

Eight more people, including three children, had died of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza in the past 24 hours, the territory’s Health Ministry said, taking the total to 235, including 106 children, since the war began. Israel disputes the ministry’s figures.

‘Credible’ reports of sexual violence

Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned that Israel, along with Russia, could be added to a list of countries suspected of, or responsible for, sexual violence in armed conflict.

In a letter to Israel’s permanent representative to the UN, Guterres said a UN report found “credible information of violations by Israeli armed and security forces, perpetrated against Palestinians in several prisons, a detention centre and military base”.

The Israeli mission to the UN called Guterres’ accusations baseless and “steeped in bias”. Ambassador Danny Danon urged the secretary-general to instead turn his attention to Hamas.

With Reuters and Bloomberg

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