UN says it is halting aid through main Gaza crossing because route is too dangerous

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NPR/AP

December 1, 2024 6:14 AM ET



DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said Sunday it is halting aid deliveries through the main cargo crossing into Gaza because of the threat of armed gangs who have looted recent convoys.

The decision could worsen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as the cold, rainy winter sets in, with hundreds of thousands of people living in squalid tent camps and reliant on international food aid. Experts were already warning of famine in the territory's north, which Israeli forces have almost completely isolated since early October.

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, the main aid provider in Gaza, said the route leading to the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel is too dangerous on the Gaza side.

Armed men looted nearly 100 trucks traveling on the route in mid-November, and he said gangs stole a smaller shipment on Saturday.



Read more: https://www.npr.org/2024/12/01/g-s1-36297/un-says-it-is-halting-aid-through-main-gaza-crossing-because-route-is-too-dangerous

[moniss]

1. Failure of the IDF to provide security

as usual.

[SunSeeker]

2. Right. It's IDF's fault that Hamas is stealing from its own people.

[moniss]

4. IDF is the occupying force in control in Gaza and as such has

certain obligations under international law. Providing for the needs of the civilian population is one of those especially since the IDF are the ones who destroyed any ability for the civilians to provide for themselves. These requirements aren't something new or something just targeted at Israel by the mean old rest of the world. But failing to live up to obligations regarding care for civilians in war zones is not new either whether it's Israel in these matters or the US in Iraq, Vietnam, etc. where we destroyed civilians and villages in order to "save them".

Just rolling trucks through the check-point at the border and then telling them they're on their own is hardly meeting your obligations.

[Beastly Boy]

11. Not in a war zone where armed opposition is active.

And Hamas determines which parts of Gaza they want to turn into a war zone and when.

There is no looting to speak of where Hamas is not shooting at IDF.

[moniss]

14. International law and convention

along with agreements that Israel and the US requested at the UN say otherwise. When you are the occupying force you have certain obligations. However in the eyes of some people around the world the government of Israel has no obligations to abide by anything at any time or be responsible for any of their actions. In that specific regard it makes them no different than the terrorist groups they decry.

[Beastly Boy]

16. Please cite the referred to requests at the UN and the international law verbatim.

I have a hunch that what they state is not what you think they state.

Prove me wrong. I dare ya!

[NickB79]

3. Earlier this year there was an incident where the IDF DID provide security

And a long, angry thread here at DU erupted over the IDF shooting the looters to protect the convoys, despite the IDF providing drone footage of said looters firing weapons at the convoy.

A large contingent of DU'ers were pissed the IDF opened fire on said looters, arguing they should have just let them take the supplies.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't I guess.

Edit: I managed to track down ONE of the threads about this incident. I recall more, as I participated in at least one other than this one.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1134140110

[moniss]

5. I don't think we know all of the details of that incident

specifically but I do remember it and some of the discussion here. I don't know if the looters were armed or not. If armed then shoot and if not then use less than lethal means. But just because the situation is difficult doesn't mean they can just back away from the obligation.

I read a very good opinion piece today from a young Gazan woman who said that in previous attacks and occupations in Gaza the world made successful steps to pressure Israel about food aid and delivery. She is correct in that. What was very telling is when she said it is not believable that the world can't make it happen this time. She is right. I have said it before that, with only a few exceptions, the world is showing they lack the political will to take aggressive steps towards the Israeli government. Major countries could cancel trade agreements, expel diplomats etc. and there would be an impact. Spare parts for military hardware could be more widely embargoed. Financial measures could be taken. Designation of more "settler/squatter groups" as terrorist organizations etc. and the list goes on of things the countries of the world could have been doing instead of doing a bad routine of "peace is at hand" while the slaughter, starvation and deprivation of medical care rolls on.

[Beastly Boy]

17. They were armed. And it is not an opinion.

There is an aerial drone video whose timing and location were verified by the GPS coordinates.

[DrFunkenstein]

6. Maybe they should, you know, not be there...

Just throwing that out there. Maybe the people with overwhelming evidence of war crimes shouldn't be allowed to continue to control the region. It's an outside-the-box kind of thought.

[maxsolomon]

8. You mean Hamas, who controls Gaza?

JK; I know you mean the IDF.

Who could disallow them to "control the region"?

[AloeVera]

9. Thought you'd want to know that the IDF version of the Flour Massacre has been cast into doubt, shall we say.

As I'm sure you do not want to be repeating questionable accounts of that terrible event.

According to a CNN investigation and the analysis of experts, as well as on-scene video testimony, the IDF appears to have - to put it bluntly - LIED.

The much-publicized video was sliced and spliced and is missing the key footage of the scenes prior - capturing what caused the crowds to disperse. Turns out, the IDF fired on the crowd BEFORE the trucks even arrived, kind of demolishing the IDF claims about looters. Hard to loot what has not yet arrived.

Oddly enough, the IDF refused CNN's request for the full unedited version of the event.

Nor was that the first time the IDF attacked unarmed, desparate and starving people waiting for aid delivery. Nor the first time that the IDF lied, I might add.

There is apparently an on-going investigation by Israel, I'm sure it's done by now. You could check with FFAM, I suppose.

On March 8, after an internal investigation, the IDF released a timeline suggesting that the aid convoy began to cross into northern Gaza accompanied by its tanks at 4:29 a.m. A minute later, at 4:30 a.m., the IDF said its troops fired “warning shots” toward the east to disperse crowds before firing at “suspects” who they claimed posed a threat. At 4:45 a.m., the military said it fired more warning shots.

But CNN’s analysis of dozens of videos from the night and testimonies from eyewitnesses’ casts doubt on Israel’s version of events. The evidence, reviewed by forensic and ballistic experts, indicated that automatic gunfire began before the IDF said the convoy had started crossing through the checkpoint and that shots were fired within close range of crowds that had gathered for food.

The IDF did not answer CNN’s questions regarding its findings but said that it stood by its previous statements about what happened on February 29. It added that the incident was being examined by the General Staff’s Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism (FFAM), an independent body, and that no further information would be released until their investigation was complete.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/09/middleeast/gaza-food-aid-convoy-deaths-eyewitness-intl-investigation-cmd/index.html

[Beastly Boy]

12. Other than "cast doubt" on the available evidence,

did CNN's thorough investigation produce any additional doubt free evidence to counter the GPS-verified evidence they doubt?

Does CNN have possession of any video that confirms the very doubtful testimony of, I recall, a total of two alleged eyewitnesses out of a crowd of hundreds and an unknown number of unidentified experts whose expertise is undetermined? You know, some evidence that passes the test of journalistic integrity beyond the standards of "Ancient Aliens"? You know, something that exceeds the threshold of mere speculations that they claim constitutes evidence ?

You know what lying means, don't you? It is an act of contradicting established facts. What facts did CNN establish that contradict what IDF videos show? On the other hand, the testimony of the two eyewitnesses contradict the evidence shown in the IDF video. The forensic and ballistics experts do not establish the source of automatic gunfire, and the IDF video clearly shows non-IDF gunmen firing automatic weapons in close proximity of the crowds.

Myself, I have doubts, as per the above, that CNN was conducting an impartial investigation. Do my doubts turn CNN into, to put it bluntly, liars?

[AloeVera]

13. So CNN is biased against Israel and the IDF is honest and true.

According to you:
CNN's 22 eyewitnesses lied, multiple experts were wrong, local videos disproving the IDF's timeline ans claims it only started shooting after the trucks arrived - are not worthy of comment, nor can be considered "contradicting established facts".

Because in your view, the IDF "establishes facts" with grainy, edited videos while everyone else is lying.

But the IDF's "evolving" and self-contradictory statements, edited and spliced video missing the parts were people were acyually killed and Israel's apparently non-existent "self-investigation" - all that can be ignored too. Because CNN did not present the "smoking gun" proving that Israel lied! Which as you know, is in the hands of the IDF - which it refuses to release - and FFAM, which apparently neglected to "investigate".

Oh, what a tangled web we weave...

This is why I limit my engagement with you. As I am about to do now.

Meanwhile, back in Gaza, people - including little kids and babies! - are literally starving and freezing to death. All made possible because Israel has immunity to commit all these crimes for 14 months. Decades, actually. In turn made possible by the unwavering support and blind allegiance of its many defenders in the West, for whom I have a few choice words that must remain unsaid here, sadly.

[Beastly Boy]

15. No, this is according to YOU.

According to ME, I asked YOU a question, and I quote: "I have doubts, as per the above, that CNN was conducting an impartial investigation. Do my doubts turn CNN into, to put it bluntly, liars?"

Right out of the gate, you responded with a false attribution, a false presumption and a projection. Now that's impressive!

Nowhere in my post did I presume what you are attributing to me.

I never said that the two (as per my recollection, and you are welcome to challenge it with real evidence) eyewitnesses were lying, or that the alleged experts, whose identities, expertise and numbers you cannot determine were wrong, or that the CNN report in question just that their reporting doesn't have the standing to claim inaccuracies in the IDF reporting, or that their exoressed doubts constitute outright lies. YOU did.

I did say that I have doubts about local videos and the published testimonies of the mysterious experts contradicts anything in the IDF reports, and I gave good reasons why I have my doubts. YOU didn't address any of it with anything resembling valid counterpoints.

I have doubts as to CNN's impartiality in reporting conjectures as if they were facts. I have doubts that these conjectures constitute lying on the part of IDF, just as CNN has doubts about the evidence IDF has presented. You, on the other hand, make it clear that according to YOU, doubts on my part and that of CNN constitute accusations of lies.

Based on the above, I have doubts about the impartiality of their reporting and journalistic integrity.

I have doubts. You don't.

The kicker is that the rest of your post is dedicated to illustrating why doubts should not be confused with lies, or facts, apparently unaware that whatever judgements you are passing on me would apply equally to the CNN article in question, while laying bare any absence of doubt in your own unfounded charges of lying. No shit!

And you are still refusing to acknowledge, let alone address, the obvious cause for the suffering of little kids and babies: Palestinians stealing the humanitarian aid intended for Palestinians, including the aid intended for the little Palestinian kids and babies. It's been going on for decades, and not a hint of indignant theatrics from the "humanitarian" crowd. Not then, not now.

[Beastly Boy]

10. Whose failure?

The security is just fine when the convoys travel in the territories in full control of IDF. It is when the convoys cross into Gaza and into the territories where Hamas militants are active that the looting begins.

Why isn't Hamas criticized for not providing security on their own territory? And wouldn't IDF be guilty of a land grab were they to take control of policing any part of Gaza?

As usual, the "humanitarians" can't make up their minds about how to criticize Israel.

[maxsolomon]

7. So bring it in through a different crossing?

Through Egypt?

I suspect the problem is widespread once the aid is past IDF control.