When 400 days have passed since the beginning of the brutal Israeli offensive against Gaza, which has left more than 43,500 dead in this time, the situation in the Strip is increasingly heartbreaking, especially in the north of the Palestinian enclave. Amid the devastation and hunger, there is no sign of a ceasefire after Qatar suspended its role as a mediator in the conflict between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas. The replacement of the head of Defense by a hawk close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the arrival of Donald Trump to the White House in January only worsen the prospects for a peace that seems increasingly distant.
Last week, Netanyahu dismissed Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, removing one of the few who questioned his decisions and stance on the war in Gaza and a ceasefire agreement. After two years of friction – and a failed attempt to dismiss him in early 2023 – the head of the ultra-nationalist Government expelled Gallant from the cabinet and appointed Israel Katz, until then Foreign Minister, in his place. From that portfolio, he has proven to be one of Netanyahu’s most faithful allies (both belong to the Likud party) and one of the most fervent defenders of the State of Israel since the beginning of the war.
In one of his first calls as Defense Minister, Katz spoke with Donald Trump on the same day as the US presidential election, November 6. “We are going to strengthen the US-Israel alliance, free the hostages and stand firm to defeat the axis of evil led by Iran,” said the newly appointed Minister of Defense on the social network X. In the first conversation with his American counterpart , Lloyd Austin reminded him “of the need to improve the terrible humanitarian conditions in Gaza.” Perhaps the US Secretary of Defense forgot that Katz was the one who promised at the beginning of the offensive against Gaza, more than a year ago, that the Palestinians would not turn on any electrical switches or open any water pipes, nor would any fuel trucks enter the Strip.
End of the US ultimatum
The Israeli Government’s policy has not changed much in these 13 months, in which aid levels have varied, but have been reduced considerably since the army took control of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, closing this vital door for supplies and people.
Given the deterioration of the situation for the Gazans, the United States asked Israel in mid-October to allow the entry of a greater amount of humanitarian aid to the Strip, threatening to suspend the shipment of military material to the country if this did not happen in a timely manner. period of one month. That 30-day deadline is met this week, but the amount of aid that has entered Gaza in this period is very far from the 350 trucks a day that the US Administration claimed from the Israeli Government – 1,297 trucks have arrived in the entire month of October. , according to data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)–.
In fact, last October was the month in which the fewest humanitarian shipments have entered Gaza since the beginning of the war, not only according to OCHA but also based on data from the Israeli body in charge of supervising aid and commercial goods. (called COGAT). “October has witnessed a severe deterioration of the already restrictive environment for humanitarian operations in Gaza,” OCHA denounced, according to which 43% of movements coordinated with Israeli authorities were denied.
The Hebrew military authorities put many obstacles in the way of shipments entering through the Kerem Shalom border crossing, mainly, and two other crossings; to which are added the growing difficulties in transporting and distributing aid, due to the chaos and insecurity that are increasing inside the Palestinian territory as the conflict continues.
Israel blames Hamas for the aid shortage and accuses the group of requisitioning shipments for its own consumption or to resell the precious goods. Humanitarian aid sometimes ends up in markets and the black market in Gaza, where the little food that is available sells for several or many times its pre-conflict price. Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, recently stated that “the problem is not the flow of aid, the problem is Hamas, which commandeers supplies, stores them and sells them to feed its terror machine, while the Gaza civilians are neglected.”
“Israel has not met the demands of its ally, with an enormous human cost for Palestinian civilians in Gaza,” say in a joint report the organizations Anera, Care, MedGlobal, Mercy Corps, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Oxfam, Refugees International and Save the Children.
It is not clear what measures Washington will take in the face of evidence that Israel has turned a deaf ear to the demands of its largest international partner and arms supplier, which was also very concerned about legislation against the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees ( UNRWA). State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said last week that Israel has “suspended” the evaluation of improving the entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza. “As of today, the situation has not changed significantly,” Miller said in statements to the press reported by the Associated Press agency.
This Tuesday, the Israeli Army and COGAT announced in a statement the opening of the Kisufim border crossing for “the delivery of food, water, medical supplies and shelter equipment to central and southern Gaza.” The Army has also announced that “hundreds of food and water packages were delivered to the areas of Jabalia and Beit Hanun, in northern Gaza,” which have been under siege by troops for five weeks.
Both announcements coinciding with the fulfillment of the 30-day deadline established by the US seem aimed at avoiding retaliation from the Biden Administration, although it is unlikely that it will be able to take action against the Netanyahu Government in its last two months in power. Israel is aware that Donald Trump will make things even easier for it than Joe Biden, whose government has failed to convince Netanyahu to accept an agreement to stop the massacre in Gaza and obtain the release of the hundreds of Israeli hostages who remain in Israel’s hands. of Hamas – some of them with dual Israeli and American nationality.
Since Trump’s victory in the November 5 elections, the Israeli prime minister has spoken with him three times, his office has confirmed, noting that the conversations were “very good and important.”
Qatar resigns
A few days after Trump’s victory in the US and given the failure of successive rounds of negotiations, the Government of Qatar announced on Saturday the 9th that it was suspending its “mediation efforts between Hamas and Israel” and that it will resume them when “the parties show will and seriousness to end the brutal war and the suffering of civilians” in Gaza. In its statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has rejected the “blackmail” of which it says it has been subjected as a mediator, as well as “the exploitation of the prolongation of the negotiations to continue the war at the service of narrow political interests.”
Without Qatar and with the US immersed in the transition of power from Democrats to Republicans, it is unlikely that Egypt – also a mediator between the parties – and the Biden Administration will reach an agreement before Trump takes office.
On the ground, the war continues, as does death, hunger and displacement. The Israeli Army announced this Monday the expansion of the so-called “humanitarian zone” of Al Mawasi, where hundreds of thousands of Gazans displaced from other places in the Strip are crowded in unhealthy conditions in improvised camps. The area is very limited, compared to the number of people and shops that have been established in the supposedly safe area, but which has been the target of Israeli attacks on several occasions.
From Gaza City, the main city in the Strip and one of the most punished by Israel, Kayed Hammad tells elDiario.es that he and his family have refused to go south, towards that “humanitarian zone” in which The living conditions are inhumane. They had to leave Jabalia, in the north of the Strip, “where the bombing and destruction do not stop day or night,” since that area has been under siege and fire from Israeli forces since the beginning of October.
Four days ago, the Israeli Army ordered them to leave their neighborhood in Gaza City, one of the six neighborhoods it has asked to evacuate, but Kayed says they have decided to stay, even though they are in “a desperate situation.” ”. Food is scarce in Gaza City, which arrives in dribs and drabs and does not usually reach the northern half of the Strip. “We are starving, we barely get water or wood to light the fire” to cook, explains Hammad, who is a journalist and translator, and used to work with the international press that entered Gaza – something that Israel has prohibited since the beginning of the war ago. 13 months–. “Luckily we are alive,” he adds.
In its last alert of November 8, The Famine Review Committee (FRC) stated that there is “an imminent and substantial probability that famine will occur due to the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip.” Although this probability exists throughout the territory, it is higher in northern Gaza due to the conflict, displacement, lack of access to food and medical or nutritional assistance, as explained by this committee made up of international experts. in food security, nutrition and health.
“Immediate action is required, in a matter of days and not weeks, by all actors who directly participate in the conflict, or who have influence on its development, to avoid and alleviate this catastrophic situation,” the experts said. But it does not seem that Israel is willing to act in that sense, even under pressure from Washington.
This Monday, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz has revealed that the Israeli Army is allowing groups of armed Palestinians to steal humanitarian aid and extort money to offer protection to convoys transporting that aid. Sources from humanitarian organizations working in the enclave have revealed to the newspaper that the Palestinians belong to two clans in the Rafah area, in the south of the Strip, and have blocked a large part of the shipments that enter through the Kerem Shalom crossing. . “The theft is systematic and the Israeli forces look the other way,” the sources have stated anonymously.
The trucks are attacked shortly after entering Gaza and their drivers are threatened, the sources have reported, who have seen how the armed attacks take place a short distance from the Israeli troops and that even the military refuses to intervene and provide assistance. helps drivers. Those sources added that Israeli forces prohibit trucks from taking alternative routes that are considered safer.
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