How can getting food into Gaza be up for debate?
After Hamas led a deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7, Israeli officials declared a siege of Gaza, and they have severely restricted the entry of humanitarian aid, saying they do not want it to help Hamas. From October to early May, the daily number of aid trucks entering the territory through the two main crossing points in southern Gaza dropped by around 75 percent, according to U.N. data, and reports of hunger and malnourishment have been widespread.
I am not sure what the claim is here. If the idea is that Hamas will get political credit if people do not starve, this is a totally unacceptable reason to withhold food. Maybe the worry is that Hamas will gain political leverage by monopolizing the distribution of food aid and distributing it only to loyalists. In this case why not just flood Gaza with basic foods – enough so that everyone can stock up and the price of food goes to zero. This would eliminate the ability of Hamas to benefit by monopolizing food distribution, no? In fact, why not flood Gaza with food even if this is not the concern, just as a precaution?
It’s hard to know what’s going on, but allowing people to starve should be unacceptable, full stop.
Kramer
I think you are on to someting. I hope you succeed in being heard.
[but between you and me, ending an argument with “full stop” does not help your argument or win friends and influence people.]
Kramer,
Israel funded and supplied by U.S. prescribes to medieval Europe rules of war.
A besieging force if the demand to turnover Hamas were refused could with Biden’s support murder everyone in range.
Starvation is a mass murder tactic.
Almost nothing in Palestine is humane, nor legit
Flooding the market with food might work, but it is easier said than done. What is there to stop local militias from stealing the food and doling it out at black market prices or requiring payoffs to the gang to be fed? One big holdup on food delivery is that so many trucks have been attacked and their cargo stolen that it is hard to find willing drivers. It would be nice to be able to provide security and set up food distribution centers, but that comes down to you and what army.
Gangs and militias benefit from creating artificial scarcity. You see this all over Africa. It’s a similar problem in Haiti where the government has collapsed. Hamas never cared about governing Gaza. They have their own genocidal mission. The Palestinians in Gaza were just hostages, a means to an end. I’m horrified by the situation, but it was completely predictable.
P.S. According to the Egyptian press, Hamas had been fighting Egyptian forces in the Sinai until late 2022 when Egyptian forces prevailed. The Egyptian government has no love for Hamas any more than they have love for the Muslim Brotherhood. Like Jordan, Egypt has no desire to have a Palestinian state on their border. I doubt the Egyptians managed to kill all of the Hamas fighters in their campaign, so odds are they retreated to Gaza and you can imagine how destabilizing that was. I’ve yet to see something on this is in Western press, but I can’t imagine why the Egyptians would be lying.
That’s right: when democracy ends mob rule begins …
Kaleberg
Me and what army?
I was thinking the israeli army, but a UN army or even a Palestinian (non Hamas) army.
Hell, I bet the Los Angeles Police Department could do it.
The point would be to show everyone that it is Hamas blocking the food.
No, Hamas is not “blocking the food” ~ that is a lie
We know who the riggers are …
Ten Bears
“I” do not know who is blocking the food. But Kramer’s essay suggests that worrying about Hamas taking credit is part of what is blocking delivery. Going ahead with delivery guarded by Israeli, United Nations, or non-Hamas Palestinians, would show solve the problem of “Hamas taking credit.”
excuse me while I try to rub this point in, I did not, and no one else did, suggest that Hamas was blocking delivery. We said that “[if] fear that Hamas would take credit was blocking delivery… “
missing points like this causes a lot of trouble.