Israel is considering limiting humanitarian aid deliveries into Gaza even more once President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated on January 20, CNN reported on Saturday, citing an Israeli official.
In recent months, the amount of aid entering Gaza has reached all-time lows as the Israeli military has been conducting an ethnic cleansing campaign in northern Gaza that involves a total siege, which started in early October.
The Biden administration claimed it was concerned about the aid restrictions and gave Israel a 30-day time limit to allow up to 350 aid trucks to enter the Strip per day. When the deadline came in November, Israel was not anywhere near that number, but the Biden administration said there would be no consequences, and US weapons shipments to Israel continued to flow.
The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that 2,205 aid trucks entered Gaza in December, about 71 per day. The Israeli official speaking to CNN claimed the purpose of limiting aid even more would be to deprive Hamas of resources, although armed gangs have been looting aid trucks due to the lack of security.
Amit Segal, a journalist for Israel’s Channel 12, reported last month that Trump had sent a message to Israel that suggests he won’t care about further aid restrictions despite warnings of famine.
“Trump sent messages to Israel: I won’t insist on humanitarian aid as Biden did,” Segal wrote on X on December 22.
Israel initially imposed a total siege on Gaza in the aftermath of the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel. “I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals, and we are acting accordingly,” former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on October 9, 2023.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has taken credit for getting the Israeli government to agree to allow some aid into Gaza and said in an with The New York Times that was published on Saturday that it wasn’t just Israeli officials who wanted a total siege.
“This wasn’t just the prime minister or a given leader in Israel. This was an entire society that didn’t want any assistance getting to a single Palestinian in Gaza,” Blinken said.
While Israel has allowed some aid into Gaza, overall, the deliveries are still very restricted. US government agencies had previously concluded Israel was deliberately blocking aid, which violates US foreign assistance laws, but Blinken overrode those concerns to ensure US weapons continued to flow to Israel.
Israel must have been given underground secret $$$ to makeup for their lost economy by you know who…!
"'Trump sent messages to Israel: I won't insist on humanitarian aid as Biden did,' Segal said."
Except the Biden admin never actually did "insist" on humanitarian aid – e.g., the ignored 30 day "deadline."
So it shoulda' been…
'I won't engage in the pretense of insisting on humanitarian aid as Biden did.'
Nonsense, why would I believe some Israeli reporter??? Israeli media is government controlled. Those people are zionist supremacists.
That is so cheap, to try to blame Trump for any of this. He has no role in it.
Any president that didn't stand up to Israel during their presidency and gifted them as profusely as Trump did in his first term, can't say they had no role in this.
Um, he isn’t to blame for this, yet. Trump did some good in Syria, as well as some bad.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens. Ukraine looks bad, regarding Trump. But there is hope.
I didn't say he was to blame. I said he had a role. Just like every other president who gifts Israel.
And he didn't do ANY "good" in Syria. Unless your idea of good is vastly different than mine.
He attacked ISIS legitimately and wanted to remove US troops. He also opposed intervention at times, until Ivanka showed him some picture of children…
He didn’t go along with supporting al Qaeda.
We weren't in Syria legitimately, so no on the attacks. Wanting to remove troops and not removing them is also not something that could be considered a good thing. His missile attacks were based on flimsy bullshit and he even had to be talked into giving Russia a "heads up" before one of them. And again, regarding him not supporting al Qaeda, that isn't something that can be considered good, just less shitty.
He had some crazy situation where people were lying to him about troop numbers in Syria. Graham I guess portrayed it as “taking their oil,” and it worked.
Take their oil!
Take their rare earth minerals!
I’m waiting to his plan for Gazans: “Send their men to the fields and their women to the brothels!”
It’s at least more pleasant than hearing how the US is doing “good” when it’s clearly not.
"He has no role in it."
1/ Categorical assertion re something you cannot know? Don't forget to flush.
2/ Advance telegraphing of 'positions' via a trump-supportive mass media like israel's versus working through official channels of republican speech?
Nothin' more 'Trumpian.'
What is left, deprive the Palestinians of O2?
Don't give them any ideas!
They’ll provide free euthanasia.
What is left? Cutting communications, electricity, fuel, water and food. There is a lot left to cut.