On the very day when Israel was ordered by the ICJ to submit a report on the measures it had taken to avoid acts of genocide since the court's ruling on January 26th, Israeli tanks and soldiers opened fire on crowds gathered on Gaza's 'corniche' - Al Rashid street - close to the heavily damaged Gaza city and the supposed destination for food aid deliveries. A number of videos taken on Monday 26th February showed huge crowds of people swarming over three or four trucks carrying food supplies intended for Gaza city and Northern parts of the Strip which have received no aid deliveries at all for a month, and where people have been eking out supplies of animal feed and eating green weeds with minimal food value. Around 300,000 people remain north of Wadi Gaza, some of whom have moved back there to their own homes after being targeted in the South.
Following this chaotic but predictable situation - the inevitable consequence of bringing a whole population to the point of death from starvation, the WFP suspended its vital aid deliveries, fearing injury to drivers as well as damage from Israeli fire. Shells fired by the Israeli navy offshore had already damaged an UNWRA aid truck, and Israel was repeatedly firing on trucks trying to reach Northern Gaza or returning from there. According to the reliable monitor Euro-Med, many people had been killed and injured when going to wait for and meet Aid trucks. Such action is clearly and unambiguously a war crime in itself, but also comes under the definitions of genocidal acts, being the use of starvation as a weapon of war. Descriptions by witnesses to these incidents note that people were told to come to the rendezvous where aid would be delivered, and then shot at when they arrived. After the suspension of these deliveries, which as the following video demonstrates were actually successful, as hundreds of bags of flour are seen being carried off towards Gaza city, what can only be seen as a cruel and sadistic stunt was carried out by planes from the Jordanian air-force. Following more footage of the crowds gathered and swarming over the truck-loads of aid, this later report from Al Jazeera includes footage of the 'air-drop' over Gaza - into the sea! The sight of swarms of people going down to the shore but with no means to reach the pallet loads of 'aid' 200 metres away is biblical and almost unbelievable. According to Tareq Abu Azoum, who is speaking in the first video above, the 'aid' that was able to be retrieved from the sea was spoiled with sea-water, as one might expect.
The previous day, a report from the BBC proudly announced how a special flight of UK aid came from Jordan, containing fuel, medicines and food destined for the Jordanian hospital in Northern Gaza. FOUR Tonnes was dropped onto the target, with BBC veteran war correspondent Quentin Somerville on board the publicity flight. The planes dropping their aid into the sea were apparently of the same type, with the load including MRE's or 'Meals Ready-to-Eat'. That the BBC reported on this charade, while giving Israel's claims preference to those of the victims of their gunfire, represents a general failure and misrepresentation by Western media of this criminal use of 'Aid Blackmail' by Israel. Israeli representatives have stated that they have not hindered aid deliveries to Gaza in any way, while blaming Hamas for attacking aid convoys and denying having fired on civilians there. Media have also made false claims - that 'thugs and criminals' had attacked the aid trucks, or that Israel was forced to fire at people to prevent civil disorder. But Israel's agenda is clear, and successful; crowds are terrified as well as desperate for food, and so easily manipulated. It is only necessary to stop aid getting through, while appearing to allow it to keep Western observers happy. In the latest twist of this dirty little game, a Jordanian C130 dropped dozens of parachutes of aid over Northern Gaza, though it was hard to see if any or all fell in the sea. The flight shown in today's news report was accompanied by King Abdullah, a political presence that surely has significance. Media now reports that C-130 flights from Egypt, Qatar, France and the UAE have added to three more from Jordan. The Western agenda also becomes clearer, as in proposals for some sort of agreement, Israel has said it wants people to be able to return to Northern Gaza, pending the supply of aid, but excluding 'men of fighting age'. Given that King Abdullah met with Mahmoud Abbas yesterday, following the curiously staged resignation of the Palestinian Authority PM and cabinet, could it be that 'Jordanisation' of Gaza is the plan, supervised by the UK and its Zionist leaders? This may be their plan, but neither Hamas nor the Palestinian people will have a bar of it, as must be perfectly clear to Western powers affecting 'ceasefire' talks. Anyone with the slightest appreciation of "democracy" and sovereignty and justice cannot possibly accept Israel's idiotic demands that it decides who will control Gaza and who will not. Even as 90% of Palestinians support the only group fighting for their rights and survival on their own terms, the Western powers dismiss Hamas as a terrorist organisation that can have no place in Palestine's future government. It is greatly to be hoped that the current meeting of Palestinian groups in Moscow will result in legitimate and fair proposals to end Israel's war on Gaza and save the whole region from a conflagration.
DM February 28th 2024