There has been no substantive increase in the number of trucks entering Gaza since the UN resolution passed on 22 Dec.

[Donkees]

Patrick Wintour

The UK is politically invested in the UN resolution on humanitarian aid passed before Christmas, since the UK claimed its passage would lead to a step change in the amount of aid entering Gaza, despite criticism by the UN and numerous NGOs that the resolution would have little impact in the absence of a ceasefire or the handover of the responsibility for checking aid truck contents from Israel to the UN.

The UK, along with the US, was instrumental in persuading Israel to open the Kerem Shalom crossing to ensure there was a second access point beyond the Rafah crossing with Egypt that had largely been built for pedestrians.

The UN on Wednesday said it and other humanitarian partners “have been unable to deliver urgently needed life-saving humanitarian assistance north of Wadi Gaza for three days due to access delays and denials, as well as active conflict.” This includes medicines that would have provided vital support to more than 100,000 people for 30 days, as well as eight trucks of food for people who currently face catastrophic and life-threatening food insecurity.

On Wednesday only 105 trucks with food, medicine and other supplies entered the Gaza Strip via Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings, the UN said. There has been no substantive increase in the number of trucks entering Gaza since the UN resolution was passed on 22 December.

Israel insists thorough checks are necessary to ensure the UN trucks are not being used to smuggle weapons to Hamas inside Gaza. Others claim it is a policy of deliberate starvation, and will be cited in the legal claim to be made by South Africa at the international court of justice in The Hague next week that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

There are already signs that some wings of the Israeli government know they need to be more explicit that they are not seeking to starve Palestinians or forcibly deport them, or else risk losing the case.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/jan/04/israel-gaza-war-live-updates-hamas-palestine-antony-blinken-us-secretary-visit-saleh-al-arouri-death

[The Magistrate]

1. Surely You Do Not Pretend, Sir

That there will be no attempt made to smuggle weapons in along with the food and fuel and medicines? Or that the latter are not liable to be seized by gunmen rather than distributed to the suffering populace? Hamas' strategy is to deliberately immiserate the people of Gaza for propagandist gains. Everyone knows this, in fact, you will see it often said that Israel's campaign plays into the hands of Hamas, which is frank confession that Hamas gains more by Arab Palestinian suffering than does Israel, and so has better cause to work towards contriving more of it than Israel does.


"Can't nobody here play this game?"

[Eko]

4. I'm not sure about your reasoning here.

disregarding the smuggling of weapons you are saying that Hamas will take the food and fuel and medicine so,,,,,, what? Dont send any into there?

[The Magistrate]

5. Not Saying Don't Send It, Sir

Saying do so with eyes open to what's actually happening rather than pretending concerns which do slow transit are pretexts for cruelty, and imagining more than a fraction of aid sent will be distributed to the people whose distress it is intended to relieve.


"Men and steel, gold and bread, are the sinews of war. Gold and bread may procure steel and men. Men and steel will always find bread and gold."

[maxsolomon]

2. I had no idea over 100 trucks full of supplies was a normal daily number.

I didn't know there were daily deliveries.

If more are needed, maybe Hamas should agree to a Ceasefire.

[Donkees]

3. Under U.S. Pressure, Israel Weighs Opening Erez Crossing for Gaza Humanitarian Aid

Israel is examining opening the Erez Crossing in the north of the Gaza Strip to bring in humanitarian aid to northern Gaza.

This comes under pressure from the United States, which is conditioning its continued support of the fighting on increased aid to Gaza, and ahead of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken planned visit to Israel next week. Concurrently, Israel is considering bringing aid trucks in through a gap in the border fence near Kibbutz Be'eri, which is used by the IDF to transport troops into the Strip.

Two hundred truckloads of humanitarian aid currently enter the Strip daily, mostly through Egypt and the Rafah Crossing, and some through Israel and the Kerem Shalom Crossing, reopened last month under American pressure. 60 percent of the aid is delivered by the International Red Cross and UNRWA, and the rest through other international civilian agencies.

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-01-04/ty-article-live/white-house-u-s-to-leave-significant-mideast-presence/0000018c-d284-d4e1-ad8f-feb548930000