Hamas is preventing aid from reaching Gazan civilians, but a joint project to build a floating maritime aid port by the United States, Israel and others will do a lot more than just counter the terror group’s theft. “The process is designed to facilitate aid directly to civilians and in this way, it advances [our goal] of overthrowing Hamas’ rule in Gaza,” said Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Sunday in comments published by Israel. “…We will work so that the aid reaches those in need and not those who do not.”
That is a key concern in Gaza, where Hamas is stealing aid from the Palestinians according to IDF spokesperson Radm. Daniel Hagari, citing IDF and Israeli Security Agency intelligence. Hagari, whose comments were posted in a video on the IDF’s X (formerly Twitter) page, said Hamas was “stockpiling equipment and food, for Ramadan, for Hamas terrorist leaders, instead of the Gazan civilians in need.”
One senior Israeli defense official told The Jerusalem Post’s Editor-in-Chief Zvika Klein for her Editor’s Notes that Hamas is confiscating the aid and then selling some of it at ten times the price. In addition, a former senior Israeli defense official was cited in The Jerusalem Post article as saying that the people hungry in Gaza are those who can’t pay Hamas for the food.
That is where the aid seaport comes into play. According to Gallant, Israel will facilitate aid via the pier in coordination with the US on the security and humanitarian side, along with civilian assistance from the United Arab Emirates. Gallant, whose comments were made while patrolling the Gaza coast, said the aid will also be given the “appropriate inspections in Cyprus, and the goods will be brought by international organizations with American assistance.”
The Administration of US President Joe Biden announced the emergency mission to build a port off Gaza’s coast on Thursday. The temporary pier will enable hundreds of aid trucks per day to reach Gaza, according to a background briefing by a Senior US Administration Official posted to the White House website. However, the official noted it will take “a number of weeks to plan and execute.”
In the meantime, Israel is already enabling significantly more food into Gaza that was going in prior to October 7. According to a March 6 post on the X page for Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) group, 102 food trucks have been entering Gaza on average per day over the last two weeks—as opposed to 70 trucks per day five months ago. That’s an increase of 46% percent. Another COGAT post to X said 134 food trucks—and 225 humanitarian aid trucks in total—were transferred into Gaza just on Sunday. Said the post: “There is no limit to the amount of aid that can enter Gaza.”
However, it’s not only Hamas that is keeping aid from Gazan civilians. The United Nations is having apparent logistical problems delivering the aid as well. According to a separate post by COGAT on March 7, 250 trucks’ worth of aid is “still waiting on the Gazan side of Kerem Shalom to be picked up by @UN aid orgs.”
Or as another COGAT post said on Sunday in response to a UNRWA post on X claiming hunger in Gaza: “Perhaps if @UNRWA and @UN would coordinate aid trucks to the north, things would be better. Stop creating narratives and exercise your responsibility. That’s what you’re there for.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, March 10, 2024)