[News] Blinken Approved Policy to Bomb Aid Trucks, Israeli Cabinet Members Suggest
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Sun Oct 6 10:10:57 EDT 2024
From within the Israeli military’s main headquarters in Tel Aviv,
Antony Blinken participated in the frantic discussions of the Israeli
War Cabinet.
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Blinken Approved Policy to Bomb Aid Trucks, Israeli Cabinet Members
Suggest
<https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=2510348&post_id=149825536&utm_source=post-email-title&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=lvppb&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjozNjc1MTU4MywicG9zdF9pZCI6MTQ5ODI1NTM2LCJpYXQiOjE3MjgyMjAxMjMsImV4cCI6MTczMDgxMjEyMywiaXNzIjoicHViLTI1MTAzNDgiLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.0TKp1iT6f64DY4F0qNSGzNKaj3S5bGb9jtPKvi3qwt8>
Yaniv Cogan <https://substack.com/@yanivcogan>
Oct 6, 2024
∙
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/Over the past three weeks since Israel launched a massive bombing
campaign in Lebanon, much of the media and political focus has shifted
away from Gaza. Israel is expected to imminently launch a large attack
against Iran, following Tehran’s retaliatory missile strikes against
Israeli military targets last Tuesday. The United States, while claiming
to oppose a wider war in the region, has continued to provide Israel
with weapons, intelligence, and political support, consistently
characterizing its offensive actions and large scale killing of
civilians as “self defense.”/
/Over the past 24 hours, the U.S.-backed Israeli government has bombed
the Palestinians of Gaza with a ferocity reminiscent of the opening days
of its genocidal war launched one year ago this week. Israel conducted
more than 100 strikes against an estimated 50 sites around northern
Gaza, including the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp as well as
Nuseirat and Bureij. The harrowing images and videos out of northern
Gaza show large numbers of children being maimed and killed in air
strikes on tent encampments and residential buildings. At least 21
people were killed in a strike on the Shuhada Al Aqsa mosque in Deir
Al-Balah. /
/The Israeli military has ordered the expulsion of an estimated 300,000
Palestinians from nearly all areas of the north as Israeli ground forces
and tanks stormed into the area to begin encircling Jabaliya. During the
past year Israeli officials have threatened that Palestinians who do not
obey the IDF’s evacuation orders would be deemed enemy combatants or
accomplices. “We have to tell the residents of north Gaza that they have
one week to evacuate the territory, which then becomes a military zone,”
retired Israeli General Giora Eiland told a Knesset committee recently.
“[E]very figure is a target and, most importantly, no supplies enter
this territory.”/
/Drop Site News is committed to continuing to report on Gaza and the
role of the U.S. government in facilitating the full spectrum
destruction of the Strip and its people. The past year has not only
destroyed Gaza’s infrastructure and, according to confirmed statistics,
killed more than 41,000 people. As many as 10,000 are estimated to be
trapped under rubble. It has also condemned a generation of Palestinian
children who manage to survive to a life of stunted development, chronic
health problems, and trauma. /
/My colleague Yaniv Cogan has a new report for Drop Site News today that
exposes the role Secretary of State Antony Blinken has played from the
earliest stages of the war in enabling Israel’s starvation policy
against Gaza. It is a story packed with damning details and carefully
crafted non-answers from the U.S. State Department to our questions./
/We cannot do this reporting without the support of our readers. If you
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Benjamin Netanyahu and Antony Blinken on their way to a meeting of the
Israeli War Cabinet, October 16, 2023. Israeli Government Press Office
handout via Getty.
Blinken Approved Policy to Bomb Aid Trucks, Israeli Cabinet Members
Suggest
/By Yaniv Cogan/
>From the very beginning of Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip, U.S.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken had his hands on the steering wheel.
After October 7, Blinken was the first senior U.S. official to arrive in
Israel, on October 11. "I'm going with a very simple and clear
message... that the United States has Israel's back," Blinken reportedly
said
<https://substack.com/redirect/b5692166-fe25-4d3c-ad06-96d4e6dee25f?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>before
boarding the plane.
He returned again days later. This time, Blinken was there to demand
that Israel rethink its decision to bomb any humanitarian aid
<https://substack.com/redirect/d4dad495-c448-4b87-bf05-8ed319a3eea2?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>entering
Gaza and impose a “total siege
<https://substack.com/redirect/4a066dbb-5319-49f5-a594-dadfdbd1d022?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>”
on the Strip. In exchange, U.S. President Joe Biden offered to visit
Israel himself. Reportedly
<https://substack.com/redirect/8182782d-5b47-4427-99cc-e51509296056?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>,
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explained to Blinken upon his
arrival on October 16, 2023: “I have got people in the cabinet who don’t
want an aspirin to get into Gaza because of what’s happened.”
>From within the Kirya, the Israeli military’s main headquarters in Tel
Aviv, Blinken participated
<https://substack.com/redirect/fbd3fbc8-cb04-42f1-bc7b-b4285540e6aa?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>in
the frantic discussions of the Israeli War Cabinet—the decision-making
forum guiding the genocidal campaign—that were occuring in parallel to
conversations in the broader Security Cabinet.
According to Channel 12 reporter Yaron Avraham
<https://substack.com/redirect/624839b4-ddc0-4bb6-8c35-2f76dee04d27?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>,
on October 16 and 17, “the [Security] Cabinet deliberated for hours over
the precise wording of the decision, with each draft being passed
between the Cabinet room and Blinken's room, a distance of a few meters
away, inside the Kirya…. Eventually, around 3 a.m., they arrive at an
agreed upon text that is read in the Cabinet room in English.”
Avraham’s account of the process was independently corroborated
<https://substack.com/redirect/2cd769d9-7619-4ecb-a859-e896332294ac?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>by
a reporter for the competing Channel 13, who wrote: “The discussion with
Blinken is conducted as follows: he is sitting in a room in the Kirya
with his advisors and security team, while Security Cabinet holds the
discussion; [Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron] Dermer goes back and
forth and interfaces with him.”
Blinken, for his part, concluded the day with a triumphant speech
<https://substack.com/redirect/f1b39585-46d9-4701-b71d-6e7a57fe79c2?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>taking
responsibility for the restarting of humanitarian aid to Gaza:
/To that end, today, and at our request, the United States and
Israel have agreed to develop a plan that will enable humanitarian
aid from donor nations and multilateral organizations to reach
civilians in Gaza – and them alone – including the possibility of
creating areas to help keep civilians our of harm’s way. It is
critical that aid begin flowing into Gaza as soon as possible./
/We share Israel’s concern that Hamas may seize or destroy aid
entering Gaza or otherwise preventing it from reaching the people
who need it. If Hamas in any way blocks humanitarian assistance
from reaching civilians, including by seizing the aid itself, we’ll
be the first to condemn it and we will work to prevent it from
happening again./
The following day, after an additional round of Cabinet meetings, this
time helmed by both Blinken and Biden, an outline of the decision was
publicly announced
<https://substack.com/redirect/2115289f-6423-4d96-8803-934b7b2af7ce?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>by
Prime Minster’s Netanyahu’s office: “We will not allow humanitarian
assistance in the form of food and medicines from our territory to the
Gaza Strip” and, in a separate Hebrew version
<https://substack.com/redirect/e54a427d-3e99-4bad-9e7e-84d7cf673c88?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>,
“In light of President Biden's demand, Israel will not thwart
humanitarian supplies from Egypt as long as it is only food, water and
medicine for the civilian population located in the southern Gaza Strip
or moving there, and as long as these supplies do not reach Hamas. Any
supplies that reach Hamas will be thwarted.” The Hebrew word לסכל, “to
thwart,” is frequently used by Israel to describe targeted killings and
assassinations. The previous policy of "thwarting" all humanitarian
supplies from entering Gaza was conveyed to Egypt as an explicit threat
<https://substack.com/redirect/a6222c3f-0fb1-41ea-8ad5-0947fbe5e96d?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>to
"bomb" aid trucks.
The substance of the Blinken-approved policy was starkly conveyed by
Security Cabinet member Bezalel Smotrich, who later told
<https://substack.com/redirect/d1676fdd-59d8-468a-baa5-4ee2c1788f1e?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>the
Israeli media: “We in the cabinet were promised at the outset that there
would be monitoring, and that aid trucks hijacked by Hamas and its
organizations [sic] would be bombed from the air, and the aid would be
halted.”
State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel told Drop Site News: “The
suggestion that anyone at the State Department signed off in any way on
attacks on humanitarian workers or convoys is absurd. We have always
been clear, including in the immediate aftermath of October 7, that
Israel has the right to strike Hamas militants. Secretary Blinken has
been equally clear that Israel needs to ensure that humanitarian aid is
delivered to Gaza and that humanitarian workers inside Gaza are
protected.” The State Department did not clarify whether it approved
carrying out airstrikes against Hamas militants (or those
indiscriminately classified as militants) who secure aid convoys or
seize their contents.
*“Minimal Aid Should Be Allowed”*
For Smotrich and other Israeli policymakers, the U.S.’s approval of the
policy presented an opportunity to realize aspirations they had harbored
long before October 7th. Already in 2018, as Palestinians in Gaza
resisted the Israeli blockade—jokingly referred to
<https://substack.com/redirect/437e6b19-0371-4be6-ad8c-222ac635a710?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>by
the Israeli government as “an appointment with a dietician”—through mass
protests, Smotrich stated
<https://substack.com/redirect/ff583645-2cdf-4d17-a294-bb08ebe26ad4?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>:
“As far as I'm concerned, Gaza should be hermetically sealed. We
shouldn't provide them anything. Let them die of hunger, thirst, and
malaria. I don't care, they are not my citizens, I owe them nothing”.
The first part of the humanitarian aid policy approved by Blinken—the
barring of entry of aid from within Israeli territory—was short-lived.
By December 2023, aid had begun entering directly through Israel, and
from the very first moment Israel’s monitoring mechanism, implemented
shortly after the meetings on October 16 and 17, required all aid,
regardless of origin, to go through checks within Israel before reaching
Gaza, resulting in major delays
<https://substack.com/redirect/8ea56a45-3e01-4535-beb1-6f23230e7a03?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>.
But the second policy—the “thwarting” of aid shipments within Gaza if
they “reach Hamas”—also proved to be an effective tool in Israel’s
arsenal when it came to starving the Gazan population.
The Hebrew word לסכל, “to thwart,” is frequently used by Israel to
describe targeted killings and assassinations.
As 2023 came to an end, the UN Security Council voted on a resolution to
facilitate the entry of aid into Gaza, which had been significantly
watered down
<https://substack.com/redirect/eb0ede36-1bf2-4e86-a33f-0f91aaa244ca?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>under
U.S. pressure. UN Secretary General António Guterres explained
<https://substack.com/redirect/17b12317-6fc3-41ec-9711-dd2b2820f873?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>:
“Many people are measuring the effectiveness of the humanitarian
operation in Gaza based on the number of trucks from the Egyptian Red
Crescent, the UN, and our partners that are allowed to unload aid across
the border. This is a mistake. The real problem is that the way Israel
is conducting this offensive is creating massive obstacles to the
distribution of humanitarian aid inside Gaza.”
Aid that had made it through into Gaza without rotting, despite delays
caused by the military and by Israeli protesters egged on by the
government to block aid trucks, had to then be distributed within Gaza
using a handful of trucks Israel allowed to operate in The Strip,
running on barely available fuel, driven under fire over destroyed roads
filled with unexploded munitions, and delivered without real time
communications due to blackouts imposed by the Israeli government. For
over a million refugees confined to the south of The Strip, whatever
food they had received had to then be stored in tents, using
increasingly scarce containers. Meanwhile, the domestic food production
capacity of Gaza has been decimated through the deliberate and gleeful
<https://substack.com/redirect/63ee15b6-bfa8-482b-b55b-fa87b84cfad3?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>destruction
of agriculture by the IDF and bakeries.
Guterres’s remarks were quoted in the application
<https://substack.com/redirect/394524df-a422-4434-a257-cc32bd37b5d7?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>made
by the South African government to the International Court of Justice
one week later, alongside comments from a senior official from UNRWA,
which has coordinated most of the humanitarian efforts in Gaza,
characterizing the resolution as “a greenlight for continued genocide.”
On January 26, a panel of 17 judges found “a real and imminent risk” to
the rights of Palestinians under the Genocide Convention. On the very
same day, the U.S. cut funding
<https://substack.com/redirect/f5af22a5-78cd-4e02-997e-27d74919d066?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>for
UNRWA after a narrative aggressively promoted by Israel Knesset members
that the agency—which employed tens of thousands in the Gaza Strip—was
also employing an untold number of members of Hamas
<https://substack.com/redirect/8ae184b6-383c-45ad-ad06-59ae73001911?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>and
that “terrorists” had been students in UNRWA-run schools.
UNRWA “is a complete cover up for Hamas activities and terrorist
activities,” Knesset member Sharren Haskel told the foreign media.
“Hamas has taken over this organization.”
Speaking to the Israeli media, Haskel, who has along with the rest of
the New Hope party joined the government coalition this week, added,
"There are 13,000 UNRWA workers in the Gaza Strip, and they are all
Hamas members or their relatives."
The funding freeze, which has been described at the time as a “temporary
pause,” has largely persisted
<https://substack.com/redirect/92c7b1f2-4399-40a9-8aeb-46be74918883?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>to
this day, crippling the agency’s humanitarian efforts. In UNRWA’s stead,
Israel cultivated relations with foreign NGOs, most notably World
Central Kitchen, who refrained from criticizing Israeli policy or
insisting on a ceasefire, and lacked the infrastructure
<https://substack.com/redirect/bf2815be-d5bf-4fcc-809d-960b4d4540a7?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>and
expertise to make up for the debilitation of UNRWA.
Around the same time, Netanyahu repeatedly
<https://substack.com/redirect/1d06b538-d298-4566-8f27-44491526f8d1?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>emphasized
<https://substack.com/redirect/f17d6ccd-91d5-4b42-969e-001b25485f02?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>in
public speeches that the amount of aid Israel is allowing into Gaza is
“minimal.” Former Brigadier General Effi Eitam, who reportedly
<https://substack.com/redirect/e67cdbd6-d988-4f5c-9e50-5ad33a1f8b2b?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>became
one of Netanyahu’s close confidants and advisors in the wake of October
7th, shed light
<https://substack.com/redirect/9cf96353-db65-4695-b2e9-91e056b1e749?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>on
the meaning on the meaning of the phrase: “Regarding the humanitarian
aid, minimal aid should be allowed, and when I say minimal this
means—not to shy away from a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. There are no
innocents in Gaza.”
On February 6th 2024, Security Cabinet member Gidon Sa’ar, head of the
right wing New Hope party (which has since left the coalition),
criticized the shift in policy. In a Zoom call
<https://substack.com/redirect/24b107a1-ab5a-4cb0-9da9-dee01301bcbf?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>with
party members, Sa’ar declared “I'm currently of the opinion that
humanitarian aid to Gaza should be halted immediately, until the
formulation of a humanitarian aid [mechanism] which will not be subject
to Hamas takeovers, nor the distribution of aid by Hamas to the civilian
population.”
This policy, Sa’ar said, was already anchored in “a [Security] Cabinet
decision that was made at the beginning of the war, which stated that
the humanitarian supply from Egypt will be allowed as long as this
supply did not reach Hamas, and that the supply that does reach Hamas
will be thwarted.” According to him, the policy was endorsed by “The
United States of America … in the talks that took place in the middle of
October, including the talks with Secretary of State Blinken, who was
visiting [Israel] and took part in discussions, mainly with the War
Cabinet, on the subject of humanitarian aid.”
“Right now,” he said, “on the eve of another visit of the American
Secretary of State in Israel, we must revive this idea, so as not to
undermine the aim I mentioned earlier, which is one of the war aims,
which is the destruction of Hamas's governmental capabilities.”
*Aid Attacks*
As Sa’ar was speaking, Israeli policy was already shifting. On February
5th, the Israeli military shelled
<https://substack.com/redirect/d253ca41-62cb-4e5a-aa57-f6a93d283b40?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>an
UNRWA aid truck, leading the agency and the World Food Program to halt
aid missions for weeks
<https://substack.com/redirect/befcd4bf-91c2-49a5-870e-874b668d9bed?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>.
The IDF spokesperson told the media
<https://substack.com/redirect/cbe66b10-17ac-48cb-bb5a-ca97c6a1f3b0?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>the
incident was “under review” and refused to provide additional details.
One day later, however, Israeli outlet i24NEWS reported
<https://substack.com/redirect/1d978335-ad55-417b-977d-15b1d3df13ac?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>,
based on unnamed “security sources” that the IDF had targeted “stolen
Gaza aid trucks that Hamas uses as transportation for ammunition.”
That same day an Israeli airstrike targeted
<https://substack.com/redirect/993e1617-4909-4980-ae8a-1bdc6d582382?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>a
police car which provided security escort to a flour truck, “ripping the
passengers to pieces” according to witnesses. Leaflets bearing the
picture of the destroyed vehicle were later dropped
<https://substack.com/redirect/f25d63b3-2377-4f3c-beb6-d541a4ed2bac?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>by
the Israeli military over Gaza, warning: “Our message is clear; the
Israeli security services will not allow the security apparatuses of
Hamas to continue working.”
“We know that this can have lifelong detrimental effects on children.
Even a short period of malnutrition, let alone one that lasts a year.”
By February 9th, UNRWA’s director, Philippe Lazzarini, told the press
<https://substack.com/redirect/dd74d5e8-e3fb-4af2-b7f1-d8df5944a28a?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>that
the Israeli military had assassinated eight Palestinian police officers
who were providing escorts to humanitarian aid convoys. A few days
later, then-U.S. State Department special envoy for Middle East
humanitarian issues David Satterfield cited
<https://substack.com/redirect/5a89a317-769a-4fd3-aca7-a36881e22305?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>the
targeting of Hamas’s aid truck security escorts by the Israeli military
as a major obstacle for the delivery of aid: “With the departure of
police escorts, it has been virtually impossible for the UN or anyone
else, Jordan, the UAE, or any other implementer to safely move
assistance in Gaza.”
On March 28, the International Court of Justice noted
<https://substack.com/redirect/98f35dea-df74-4ceb-9cf7-6d653b82aa96?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>“unprecedented
levels of food insecurity experienced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip
over recent weeks,” and ordered Israel to “take all necessary and
effective measures to ensure, without delay… the unhindered provision…
of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance, including
food, water, electricity, fuel, shelter, clothing, hygiene and
sanitation requirements, as well as medical supplies and medical care.”
Less than 24 hours later, Israel reportedly
<https://substack.com/redirect/ec5cc869-c1c3-4f25-89f3-1a34403799af?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>targeted
and killed several local policemen who were securing aid deliveries in
two separate attacks, along with some of their family members and
unrelated bystander. And on the next day
<https://substack.com/redirect/9880a77d-a374-44f2-a0c1-f0d7af8ffb85?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>,
the Israeli military killed 12 people, among them officials representing
tribal committees, who were coordinating aid distribution efforts.
Two days later, Israel’s favored aid provider, World Central Kitchen,
fell victim to the same policy: over the course of several minutes
<https://substack.com/redirect/8777bb5d-a0e3-436e-a2af-19fedcbcf4cc?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>an
IDF drone pursued a 7-member WCK team driving along a designated, and,
in three different airstrikes several kilometers apart, targeted and
killed every single one of them. The vehicles, marked with a WCK logo
which the IDF claimed was not visible through the drone’s thermal
camera, were driving along a preapproved route, escorting an aid convoy
on a mission coordinated with the Israeli military.
World Central Kitchen subsequently decided to halt their aid operations
in Gaza, though they later resumed it.
The Israeli military ended up putting the blame on Colonel Nochi Mendel,
who ordered the strike, and has previously expressed support
<https://substack.com/redirect/b6fd6fdf-f6cb-410d-a64a-686dcf1c00ec?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>for
halting aid provision to Gaza. Mendel’s punishment amounted to being let
go from his military service, and going back
<https://substack.com/redirect/5f70ca2b-6710-4555-87cb-4ebd646c099a?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>to
his prestigious day job as director of the Settlement Department at the
Israeli Ministry of Defense.
But the right wing Makor Rishon newspaper concluded
<https://substack.com/redirect/cd20c155-a9d6-4e48-85d7-08c32e3648ea?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>,
on the basis of conversations with drone operators involved in the
assassination of the aid workers, that Mendel was only implementing the
official policy jointly set by Blinken and the Israeli cabinet back in
October: “The mission order made it clear that the IDF is instructed to
thwart an attempt by Hamas terrorists to take over the aid trucks that
entered Gaza. The IDF received this instruction from the Security
Cabinet at the beginning of the war, sometime around October 18, 2023,
following heavy pressure from the United States.”
Concerns raised by the drone operators about hitting aid workers were
dismissed by their commanders, who insisted on strict adherence to the
order, “no matter what.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reacted
<https://substack.com/redirect/d69afd44-45cc-4fa4-8c4f-98c550877413?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>to
the killing of the WCK aid workers by stating: “Humanitarian workers are
heroes. They show the best of what humanity has to offer. I extend my
deepest condolences to those who lost their lives in the strike on WCK
in Gaza. There must be a swift, thorough, and impartial investigation
into this incident.”
But follow-ups by U.S. press in the next few months revealed the State
Department was happy to have the investigation conducted by
<https://substack.com/redirect/6cee6c23-aaed-492e-8ba7-63b93e0a8aab?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>the
president and CEO of one of Israel's largest arms manufacturers. The
ultimate culprit for the killings—the policy that Blinken had
brokered—was not amended.
In his statement to Drop Site News, Patel, the State Department
Spokesperson, claimed: “We have intervened directly with the Israeli
government on multiple occasions to insist they improve deconfliction
mechanisms to avoid harm to humanitarian workers. Strikes on
humanitarian workers are unacceptable, and Israel has a responsibility
to do everything in its power to avoid them.” Patel’s statement did not
specify whether the U.S. has insisted Israel abandon its policy of
targeting the Palestinian civil police or armed escorts of aid, nor
reiterated their previously reported
<https://substack.com/redirect/e5ecd29d-9706-4f3f-a060-3edc1732e571?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>“concern”
over the policy.
On August 29th, the Israeli military assassinated four Palestinian aid
delivery workers who accompanied a convoy organized by the U.S.-based
NGO Anera. Again, the Israeli government cited
<https://substack.com/redirect/704696c4-9d75-4cf6-be4b-f8b14a3efe05?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>the
operational policy of targeting armed forces who assume control of the
aid as justification for the strike.
<https://substack.com/redirect/821c5d3e-0fd6-4e8c-9892-c82bef96d3ae?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>
Fadi Zant, aged 9, experiencing malnutrition, received treatment after
being evacuated from the northern Gaza Strip to Rafah, on March 24,
2024. Zant, who has cystic fibrosis, reportedly lost half of his body
weight. He and his family were evacuated to Egypt and then to the U.S.
Photo by Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images.
*Devastating Effects*
The results of the starvation policies in Gaza are no longer a matter of
speculation. A study
<https://substack.com/redirect/1d636a6f-d3a0-425a-b5b6-0d449b4dbf28?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>conducted
by scholars from various Gaza universities, all of which have now been
destroyed by the Israeli military, found the average Palestinian in the
Strip has lost over 10 kilograms (or 22 pounds) in weight since October
7, 2023 and the number of underweight individuals has quadrupled. The
Global Nutrition Cluster, which coordinates the activity of various NGOs
combating malnutrition, assesses
<https://substack.com/redirect/10b138ae-e155-4e5a-bc16-4027cd857f4b?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>that
over 50,000 children under the age of 5 require acute malnutrition
treatment services.
“We know that this can have lifelong detrimental effects on children.
Even a short period of malnutrition, let alone one that lasts a year,”
said Dr. Yara Asi, co-director of the Palestine Program for Health and
Human Rights at Harvard University. “Cognitive growth is slowed, so
these children will perform worse in schools. They will be less able to
participate in the economy. Physically stunted growth, which is when
children do not grow at the normal pace, cannot be reversed.”
“Their bodies will be permanently stunted as a result of the
malnutrition they experienced as children,” Asi continued. “There's
likely other effects that we just have not been able to study. You'll
find little surveys done from contexts around the world that look at
this in the long term, but they almost all say we simply don't know
enough to know how these children are going to grow up.”
As the U.S. was busy formulating the policies that brought about this
outcome, it has simultaneously sought to help Israel construct a
narrative that would help it carry on starving the population of Gaza
unimpeded. “The images [seen] in America are brutal. There are enemies
of Israel that are actively telling the story in a very negative way,
and there are a lot of things that can be pointed to if that's the view
you’re taking,” U.S. ambassador to Israel, Jack Lew, told
<https://substack.com/redirect/9fc9d2db-79a9-4f89-840e-72a6d1e77b84?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>a
crowd of Israeli academics in July. “Israel needs to tell the story that
it is making sure that people are getting what they need for there not
to be a famine.”
The State Department, meanwhile, continuously offered lip service to the
suffering of Palestinians. When asked about the U.S.’s responsibility
for the spread of starvation in Gaza, State Department spokesperson
Matthew Miller responded
<https://substack.com/redirect/77352dd9-253d-4e12-8a30-abd7c2e3619a?j=eyJ1IjoibHZwcGIifQ.9RIwWbE6EVIB7Jy8lfazxZKfps8R18neRGMKwOiqnRM>:
“It is the United States that has secured all of the major agreements to
get more humanitarian assistance into Gaza going back to the very early
days, the first week after October 7th, when the Secretary traveled to
the region and the President traveled to Israel, and together convinced
Israel to open Rafah crossing to allow humanitarian assistance in.”
In fact, Blinken and Biden’s visit resulted in the formulation of the
Israeli policy of starvation as it stands today. “The United States,
including Blinken and others, have legitimized this tactic,” said Asi.
“Starvation as a weapon of war is okay as long as we agree with your
aims.” That U.S.-approved policy was then implemented using
U.S.-manufactured weapons, with the backing of U.S.-imposed sanctions,
under the veil of a U.S.-constructed narrative.
A guest post by
<https://substack.com/profile/15517018-yaniv-cogan>
Yaniv Cogan
<https://substack.com/@yanivcogan?utm_campaign=guest_post_bio&utm_medium=email>
Yaniv Cogan is a writer based in Tel Aviv. He recently contributed to
the book, DELUGE: Gaza and Israel from Crisis to Cataclysm, published by
OR Books. https://orbooks.com/catalog/deluge/
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Restack
<https://substack.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.0V0sdCIOqmd35xHOkZOeqi2M1NSNXhQZm4afeIJVHpg?&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email>
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