On Friday the UN said that it was no longer able to continue aid deliveries into Gaza as an Israeli fuel blockade of the enclave has led to a widespread communications blackout. The World Health Organization warned that the ending of aid deliveries means the “immediate possibility of starvation” for the 2.3 million people in Gaza.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) announced it was forced to halt aid shipments into Gaza. “The communications network in #Gaza is down because there is NO fuel,” the agency said in a statement on social media. “This makes it impossible to manage or coordinate humanitarian aid convoys.”
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini slammed Tel Aviv for causing a humanitarian crisis. “I do believe there is a deliberate attempt to strangle our operation and paralyze the UNRWA operation,” Lazzarini said on Thursday. “For weeks on end, we have pleaded, warning about the impact of the lack of fuel.”
On Thursday, Gaza’s telecommunications companies said they were out of fuel to run their network. On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch issued a report saying if fuel was not allowed into Gaza, a communications blackout would occur. The group warned that “Prolonged and complete communications blackouts, like those experienced in Gaza, can provide cover for atrocities and breed impunity while further undermining humanitarian efforts and putting lives at risk.”
Israel says it agreed to allow two trucks of fuel into Gaza on Friday. However, a UNRWA official stated, “I can confirm that UNRWA did not receive any fuel [on Friday].” Even if Tel Aviv does follow through with its promised allowance of fuel to cross into Gaza, Lazzarini said it would be an insufficient amount for his agency to maintain basic operations.
Most of the fuel that Tel Aviv will allow to enter Gaza will go to the trucks that haul aid from southern Israel, where it must pass inspection, and then pass through Egypt and enter Gaza over the Rafah crossing. Some Western countries have become frustrated with Tel Aviv’s refusal to allow aid to cross directly from Israel to Gaza. Israel’s inspection regime has caused a backup and delay of aid shipments.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said civilians faced the “immediate possibility of starvation” due to the lack of food supplies. The group’s director says that there is almost no food or water in Gaza. Executive Director Cindy McCain explained that supplies of food and water are “practically non-existent in Gaza.” She noted even before the aid halted that it was “only a fraction of what is needed is arriving through the borders.”
She added, “With winter fast approaching, unsafe and overcrowded shelters, and the lack of clean water, civilians are facing the immediate possibility of starvation.”
The humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza will only get worse as Israel has signaled it will push its forces into the southern half of the besieged enclave. Tel Aviv’s military operations have already displaced 1.5 million people, killed 11,000, and wounded tens of thousands of Palestinians.
As the assault’s sixth week continues, Palestinians are beginning to die because of the lack of food, water, and medical aid. UNRWA estimates around 70% of the population in Gaza is drinking salinized and contaminated water. Hospitals in Gaza report babies are dying as there is no drinking water to produce formula. Ahmad Mikhallalati, the head of plastic surgery at al-Shifa Hospital, explained that most intensive care patients who were on ventilators have now died due to lack of oxygen and fuel.
Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com, news editor of the Libertarian Institute, and co-host of Conflicts of Interest.
i have no proof of this, but i think that Israel might have snuck a nuke into their NY embassy which they use to blackmail uncle sam
LOL. Started celebrating the weekend early?
sure Tim. it’s not as if people haven’t been saying that for years
People say a lot of things. But the preferred and cleaner method would be bribing and blackmailing U.S. Congress.
You were serious about your comment? I was sure your comment was a metaphor about Israel ability to get its way with USA.
Mr. Biden does not need to be blackmailed. He has been full on with the Zionists since 1973. An interesting interview with Jessica Buxbaum: Scheerpost: https://scheerpost.com/2023/11/16/israels-secret-plan-of-ethnic-cleansing-w-jessica-buxbaum/
No need for nukes when hordes of Christian Zionists will gladly suck Netenyahu’s ****, slurp it up and beg for seconds
How does msm sleep at night cheering on this genocide?
Quite nicely, apparently………………
They have no soul, no conscience to interrupt their sleep.
MSM is all about propaganda and money, it has no soul, and no conscience, no character and no spine and that is why it can sleep. Maybe the employees are in a deep coma.
I am missing something. Can someone explain this to me. Why can’t the fuel come into Gaza via Egypt? Does Israel tell Egypt what they can or cannot allow to cross their boarder with Gaza? Why are the fuel trucks coming from South Israel instead of straight from Egypt?
Yes. Israel controls the border between Egypt and Gaza. They will bomb anything that tries to cross without Israeli permission.
This was a rhetorical question designed to deflect the blame somewhere else other than Israel. When you answer, you just stir the $hit he dumped in your toilet, making it smell worse. Next time, just FLUSH! Believe me. It’s the best way to deal with $hit. They’ve never invented a better way.
Does Israel tell Egypt what they can or cannot allow to cross their boarder with Gaza?
I’m just guessing here. Yes.
Just say, FLUSH!
That makes Egypt part of the problem.
Or they want their annual $1.3 billion in US “aid” to continue.
Russia forays into the Ukraine to RESCUE Russian-speaking people under attack or imminent attack by Kiev and they are “evil”.
Israel forays into Gaza Strip with the intent to murder anyone who doesn’t leave, and they are “victims” whom all the USA “leaders” cheerlead for!
Nice summary.
Maybe the USA could bomb Gaza with tons of food and water. Nah, that would be too easy.
Why the hell aren’t we talking war crimes yet?…
Crimes against humanity?……. How many Palestinian deaths are required???……Or does that only apply to those who are Jewish, in terms of loss of life?….
We all need to be writing about this as well as discussing these aspects of this WAR, so called……
I intend to begin making my own inquiries into this… Kindly recall that my husband is Jewish.
I am going to begin by contacting the UN…
https://www.un.org/en/
Donna, Jewish people are great people. The Zionists are the problem, Zionist Israelis are the problem. IMHO
What are the UN Troops for? Why can’t they escort the fuel trucks?
Israelis’ are committing crimes against humanity and this is actually the chosen policy of the Israeli government.
The people of Israel are victims of its own government which appears to have used intelligence warnings to facilitate the attack by–
o enacting a stand-down and suspending surveillance protections
o confiscating local weaponry so Israelis could not defend themselves
o preventing a timely response to the Oct. 7 events, waiting up to 8 hours to respond
The world is watching and can see this.
Israelis have over-stepped the boundaries of civilized behavior and exposed the extremes they are willing to employ to realize their EXPANSIONIST policies in Palestine and the greater region:
o killing Israelis in a false flag attack
o bombing Gazan civilians in their beds, schools, hospitals
o subjecting civilians to deprivation of all necessities leading to death by hunger, thirst and exposure
o bombing refugees
o acts of aggression against neighboring nations
Even Israelis’ considerable public relations skills are no match for their own barbaric policies of genocide and starvation. They’ll never find an angle to spin this one into a win. Never.
Their Greed now surpasses all their P.R. skills to camouflage that Greed. Their heartless abuses of the innocent and the defenseless are so heinous, there is no communications framing that can be used to ‘justify’ Israeli cruelty and baseness. (Perhaps it was realized the influence of AIPAC wouldn’t be enough to ‘sell’ Israeli policies. Is that the reason for the back-up plans like the blackmail machinery of Maxwell&Epstein and FTX bribery cashflow? Were these created to keep politicians, bureaucrats, law enforcement, courts, and media cowering in support of brutal and unconscionable aggressors?)