The Rising Death Toll of the U.S.-Israel Aid Distribution Plan in Gaza
When the Trump administration unveiled its plan to put a fledgling nonprofit with no humanitarian track record in charge of distributing aid to Palestinians in Gaza earlier this month the outcry among aid groups was widespread Under the plan which has the backing of the U S and Israeli governments civilians would be concentrated into southern Gaza in so-called sterile zones controlled by the Israeli military The new nonprofit led by a former U S Marine would be the sole distributor of aid from a handful of locations American contractors would provide shield including one group run by a former senior C I A officer The humanitarian society worried the Israeli governing body would use the new aid plan as a weapon against Palestinians who are at present facing mass starvation under Israel s -week blockade Particular aid experts likened the zones to a concentration camp or an internment camp saying the plan would further displace Palestinians Selected Israeli personnel disclosed they hoped the plan would permanently expel Palestinians from Gaza Such fears proved prescient Tuesday when the aid plan led by the Gaza Humanitarian Aid Foundation went forward in the Tel Al-Sultan neighborhood of Al-Mawasi Rafah Thousands of Palestinians were forced to walk miles to the site where the large crowds packed into fenced-off corridors as private American guard contractors armed with assault rifles guarded boxes of aid During the distribution guards initially subjected recipients to intense searches but later loosened assurance two sources monitoring the distribution notified The Intercept At that point the crowd began to storm the distribution site attempting to receive the aid Gunfire rang out at the site prompting crowds to flee At least three people were killed and others were injured amid the gunfire and overcrowding conditions according to reports citing Gaza executives An additional six people were killed and others were wounded by gunfire on Wednesday while attempting to receive aid at a site north of Rafah according to agents Elsewhere in the strip in the Qizan Rashwan area airstrikes killed six who were headed further south to receive aid authorities also declared on Wednesday Aid in Gaza should not be political it should not be conditional Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor ratified on Tuesday the death of one individual and commented the injured were wounded by bullets fired by both Israeli military and the U S -based private defense firms The group explained Israeli military soldiers had entered the site to fire on the crowd The monitor relied on its field researchers who proven the wounded had been seen at Al-Najjar Hospital and a Red Cross hospital The group also received reports from three families who disclosed their loved ones had left to get aid at the distribution hub but never returned Videos posted to social media established thousands of people rushing toward the distribution site The crowds scrambled away for safety along dirt trenches and downed fences as gunfire rang out footage shows In one video a man dragging a box of aid behind him declared he had walked more than six miles to the distribution site where he watched a young man killed in front of him This is what happens when you try to replace the humanitarian system with a political agenda explained Abdalwahab Hamad Gaza office manager for the Palestinian humanitarian group Juhoud Those thousands of Palestinians starving and desperate stormed the distribution center not because they re violent not because that people are hungry but because aid is being used as a weapon not a lifeline Related In Gaza Famine Is the Weapon and So Is Aid In a report to The Intercept the Israeli military disputed field reports and downplayed any mention of violence saying its soldiers had fired warning shots in the area outside the compound before gaining control of the site The Gaza Humanitarian Aid Foundation did not straightaway respond to The Intercept s requests for comment The foundation stated other outlets its armed assurance did not fire on the crowd but fell back when the crowd ran toward the aid before returning to the site Oren Marmorstein spokesperson for Israel s foreign ministry minimized Tuesday s chaos claiming the foundation had delivered packages of aid to Palestinians posting images of cardboard boxes filled with flour pasta grain and oil Humanitarian aid to people in Gaza not to Hamas he captioned the photo posted on social media The pretext for this new aid distribution regime is the theory espoused by Israel and the American cabinet that Hamas has been stealing aid to enrich itself and control the people of Gaza Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated the unsubstantiated claim on Tuesday during the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Conference saying that he needed to move Gaza s population to the south for its own protection from Hamas Neither Israel or the U S has provided evidence to assistance such insists Israel however has weaponized access to aid throughout the current war on Gaza and the practice stretches back to at least the s but intensified in once Hamas was elected to control the strip The practice continued throughout Israel s latest invasion into the strip after Hamas October attacks Since Israel imposed its latest total blockade on Gaza on March famine threat has spread across the region with one in five Palestinians in Gaza facing starvation More than children have already been treated for acute malnutrition this year Over the past week children and elderly people have suffered starvation-related deaths Gaza strength personnel stated During the first week of Israel s latest offensive Operation Gideon s Chariots more than Palestinians have been displaced the United Nations declared More than Palestinians have also been killed in ongoing Israeli airstrikes Just as the new assault launched Netanyahu stated the governing body would allow minimal or a basic amount of aid into Gaza to avoid further international backlash After UN-led groups were able to deliver small amounts of aid to Palestinians certain World Food Project bakeries in southern Gaza reopened last week only to close again after three days due to a shortage of flour Ramy Abdu chairman of Euro-Med a human rights watchdog that has tracked and opposed Israel s targeting of civilians in Gaza mentioned the latest restrictions on aid evoked a Israeli military research which calculated the precise minimum number of calories a Palestinian needed to avoid malnutrition which critics explained was proof the leadership had been illegally limiting aid into the territory We are talking about starvation or hunger management and or hunger engineering Abdu declared which in the end serves the Israeli agenda and purposes The aid plan sidesteps the United Nations which has a staff of more than workers in Gaza and has been largely responsible for delivering supplies to Palestinians throughout Israel s war in Gaza Aid groups criticized the plan saying they did not want to be complicit in the displacement of thousands of Palestinians The Gaza Humanitarian Aid Foundation or GHF had been headed by a former U S Marine sniper Jake Wood who led aid missions to Haiti and other mishap sites around the world with his other organization Association Rubicon Wood resigned earlier this week before the new plan went into effect saying the foundation would not be able to adhere to the humanitarian principles of humanity neutrality impartiality and independence which I will not abandon GHF which is operating on million in funding pressed forward on Monday without Wood loading up its aid hubs for distribution on Tuesday Armed contractors with private assurance firms Safe Reach Solutions based in Wyoming and UG Solutions based in North Carolina manned the aid sites Safe Reach Solutions is led by Philip F Reilly a former C I A officer who trained right-wing Contras in Nicaragua in the s and deployed early to Afghanistan in eventually becoming station chief in Kabul before moving to the private sector according to a New York Times research Hamad called Tuesday s development a punishment dressed as a charity and called on the Israeli ruling body to allow the UN re-take control of the aid distribution process Aid in Gaza should not be political it should not be conditional it only works when it is protected when it is neutral and is being led by organizations such as the United Nations Hamad explained adding that Palestinians in Gaza have built trust with UN-backed groups and that the UN already has the infrastructure to clearly identify and address demands You cannot replace a humanitarian system with a checkpoint and expect peace he revealed because this is a military controlled charity and people have been there just out of desperation The post The Rising Death Toll of the U S -Israel Aid Distribution Plan in Gaza appeared first on The Intercept
