Following Israel's "Leap year massacre", when tanks and troops opened fire on thousands waiting for a food aid convoy for Northern Gaza, the stage was set for more 'Air Drops' onto the strip, and into the sea. As I suggested in my previous article, 'On Gaza Beach', this joint operation by the US and its local subject Jordan appeared both ineffective and sadistic, something that was quickly pointed out by Aid agencies and some local observers; the best they could say was that it was a black comedy. Al Jazeera posted this article following the first such performance on February 28th. Already the Israeli army had targeted aid convoys near their distribution point south west of Gaza city, and after they had passed through the main checkpoint at Wadi Gaza. Following the Israeli campaign against UNRWA, launched just before the South African genocide case was brought to the ICJ, there had been no further UN aid deliveries to the estimated 300,000 living in the wreckage and ruins of Gaza city, Jabalia and other refugee camps in the North. A UN convoy had been targeted and hit by shells fired by the Israeli navy - though with no action taken following this flagrant war crime or unambiguous condemnation of the perpetrator. But some convoys of aid trucks had been appearing, in what now appears to be all part of Israel's plan to intimidate and manipulate the increasingly desperate and starving population. People were forced to wait around for hours or days, following rumours or notifications that aid would arrive at the Nuseirat roundabout. It might be two trucks or a dozen, and arrive at 4pm just before dark, or after dark when nothing but the lights of the trucks would enable the food to be safely delivered. Sometimes Israeli soldiers would open fire and sometimes they wouldn't, killing people or just wounding them, and forcing donkey carts to be used to take the injured to hospital instead of to carry bags of flour for their families. This little charade was the prelude to the massacre of February 29th, when a convoy of trucks finally arrived in the dark at 4.30 am. It should be obvious to anyone that bringing a shipment of life saving aid to a place where there are thousands of people all wanting a share but with no orderly process or officials to control them, should be done in daylight. It wasn't initially clear where the aid had come from, and no information was forthcoming from Israel. The truth only emerged later in the day, when an official responsible for USAID air-drops in disaster zones in the past - Jeremy Konyndyk - was interviewed, first by the ABC and subsequently by SBS TV. With his experience of coordinating aid drops to remote places inaccessible by road due to natural disasters or armed conflict, he made clear his disdain for the use of this method in Gaza - where the only obstruction to delivering aid by road was the Israeli military. Before examining exactly what Konyndyk told us, the video report below from SBS news covering events on March 2nd provides a little overview, as well as the local reaction to the delivery of 38,000 'meals' by a US C-130 to somewhere in Southern Gaza. As noted by one senior resident of Gaza who managed to score one Halal MRE - 'Meals Ready to Eat' - this was beyond a joke, or as media would put it 'a good start but more is needed'. As is also clear from this picture, all of the aid drops after the first ones were over land south of Wadi Gaza, where the need was less urgent, and the terrain less apocalyptic, so more suitable for foreign TV appearances.
As noted above, Jeremy Konyndyk was interviewed by the ABC soon after the massacre and before it was clear what took place. The question of how and why the Israeli troops opened fire on civilians struggling to get bags of flour from the trucks had only been speculated on, though it was clear already from footage and witnesses that many hundreds had been injured by gunfire, and that over 100 had been killed. One of the trucks that had just brought tonnes of flour was driven to the Al Shifa hospital in Gaza city loaded up with dead and injured people, while the already beleaguered hospital was now completely overloaded. What Konyndyk revealed - and it was a revelation - was that the aid convoy Israel had fired upon was organised by Israel and came from Israel, with no involvement from the UN. It was he said, the work of COGAT - the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories - of 'Judea and Samaria' and 'towards the Gaza Strip'. COGAT has a Twitter-X presence, which proved very instructive, as shown in this tweet from February 29th. Evidently Samantha Power, now head of USAID, met with Israeli military officials at a Gaza crossing the previous day, at the time when the fated convoy was being loaded.
So just to be clear - Israel, through COGAT, organised a convoy of food aid to reach the distribution point in Northern Gaza at 4.30 am, while at the same time moving tanks and troops into position close by under cover of darkness. While the thousands of people rushing to get bags of flour from the trucks knew they might be shot at, they could never have expected such a barrage of fire, nor seen it coming. Israel sprung its trap, after training the victim to take the bait without being caught. Some of the details of what happened are still not known, but there are a number of claims of atrocities beyond merely shooting unarmed civilians. In particular it is claimed that the hidden tanks moved in and ran over the bodies of some victims - with the evidence for this already preempted by Israeli spokesmen, saying that people were trampled and run over by the trucks. Given that Daniel Haggari - speaking in the video below - claims that Israeli soldiers didn't fire at civilians at all, despite the many gunshot wounds in victims, everything else he claims is in doubt and in fact is likely evidence for exactly what he denies. This chronic and compulsive mendacity is a feature of all official Israeli spokesmen. A detailed analysis of the evidence for Israeli atrocities and killings has been done by the Euro-Med monitor group, looking closely at the details visible in the drone footage provided by the IOF. They note that it is heavily edited, and both the NYT Visual Investigations team and the BBC's Fergal Keane have also questioned this and identified dead bodies close to the tanks, refuting Israel's claims. Also incriminating is the clear evidence of tracers in the gunfire shown in Al Jazeera Arabic footage as a red streak in this frame below. The sound of the machine gun is also heard in the video clip of this above.
Clearly some of those in the media are disturbed by the way information is being manipulated and the narrative controlled to allow Israel's astonishing genocidal slaughter to continue, and to conspire to drive the population of Northern Gaza to move south or starve. That SBS chose to interview Jeremy Konyndyk is a hopeful sign. As he points out, the move by the US to deliver aid from the air effectively incriminates them as collaborators in Israel's dirty scheme, and crime against humanity that exceeds all others this century. Konyndyk has also written about this 'looming famine' for Foreign Affairs, with his associate Hardin Lang, and details some of the ways that Israel is also interfering and restricting what it allows into all of Gaza, while constant saying that it does not. Basic necessities such as chlorine tablets, or pipes to repair broken water systems are banned by Israeli inspectors, while aid agencies complain that whole consignments are rejected for arbitrary reasons, such as the presence of nail clippers and insulin pens, or wooden building materials.
It must now be clear to impartial observers, as it is abundantly clear to the Palestinians and leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, that Israel has no intention of stopping its genocidal attacks or allowing in adequate humanitarian aid supplies that could prevent widespread deaths from hunger and disease. Neither has it the slightest intent to submit to any legal demands from the ICJ, nor admit guilt over the ICJ’s accusations of genocidal intent and actions. While the plan suggested by Refugees International in the interview and article above addresses the long-term requirements for Gaza’s recovery, it also notes that Israel is the only impediment to the plan’s success. Exposing the truth of the ‘Leap year massacre’ would be one step that could force Israel to make some concessions towards this goal.
Postscript - Since I wrote this on March 5th, many more people have been shot at and killed getting aid from trucks, along with the destruction of warehouses and targeting of staff; the killing of the World Central Kitchen workers drew universal attention and condemnation, despite Israel never being exposed as having planned and intended the murders. Perhaps partly because of that, CNN reviewed what happened on February 29th and published their video report and analysis - below. Not only does the CNN investigation find that the IOF targeted hundreds of people with automatic gunfire and tanks shelling, but it interviews new witnesses and shows time-stamped video that gives the lie to Israel's timeline - specifically recording gunfire when the IOF claimed it hadn't left the checkpoint. In addition to this, the charity that provided the aid or some of it, the UK-based Ummah foundation, knew nothing of what actually happened - according to its representative interviewed by CNN.also see: https://thecradle.co/articles-id/24332 Of course CNN doesn't go as far as concluding and accusing Israel of committing this crime with the intent to frighten people and aid agencies, as part of its use of starvation as a weapon of war - but people watching it may easily draw this conclusion. They also appear to be unaware of the details described above, of this being a COGAT operation in conjunction with their own representative Samantha Power. This longer report on CNN's investigation provides useful context and discussion and doesn't hesitate to accuse Israel of genocidal malintent.ISRAEL LIED ABOUT FLOUR MASSACRE - CNN INVESTIGATION pic.twitter.com/a7T5dhHqCQ
— Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) April 14, 2024
DM April 16th, 2024 (updated from March 5th)