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Israel agrees to allow US flour shipment into Gaza
Israel will allow a large US shipment of flour intended for civilians in Gaza to move ahead, the Times of Israel reports, citing an unnamed US official. The new arrangement will see a shipment of flour – capable of feeding 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza for five months – enter the enclave, and it will be distributed by the UN’s World Food Programme.
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich had blocked the transfer of the flour for more than a month. A lack of food and supplies entering Gaza, combined with restrictions on the ability of aid agencies to distribute what is available due to safety concerns, has caused a dire humanitarian situation to develop across Gaza.
This week, Palestinians protested outside UNRWA headquarters in Jabalia in northern Gaza calling for more food. “We want flour, we want flour”, one video posted on social media shows protesters shouting.
Israeli military lays waste to Gaza’s southern Khan Younis, Rafah, central Deir el-Balah
A general view shows destroyed buildings and the rubble of the al-Farouq Mosque on February 22, 2024, following an overnight Israeli air strike in the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip.
Palestinian children walk past the rubble of the al-Farouq Mosque in Rafah
Palestinians recover a body from the rubble of a destroyed house following Israeli air strikes, in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza Strip, on February 22, 2024
Palestinians search for missing people under the rubble of a destroyed house following Israeli air strikes, in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza Strip
Netanyahu unveils plan for Israel’s control of post-war Gaza: Report
The Times of Israel reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has presented a plan for the future of Gaza after Israel’s war on the Palestinian territory has concluded. The plan envisions the installation of “local officials” with no links to countries or entities who support “terrorism” to administer the Palestinian enclave.
According to the newspaper, the Israeli military “will maintain an indefinite freedom to operate throughout the entire” Gaza Strip – a presence that is described as “an intermediate-term principle”. Israel will also continue with its plan to establish a “buffer zone” on the Palestinian side of the Gaza Strip’s border with Israel, which will remain in place “as long as there is a security need for it”, the Times reports.
Netanyahu’s plan also describes the “complete demilitarisation” of Gaza “beyond what is required for the needs of maintaining public order”. The plan makes no mention of involvement from the Palestinian Authority, whom Netanyahu has previously said will not be part of a future post-war Gaza.
Netanyahu unveils plan for Gaza’s future post-Hamas
https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/23/middleeast/netanyahu-unveils-future-post-hamas-gaza-plan-mime-intl/index.html
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled a plan for the Gaza’s future post-Hamas, which includes the “complete demilitarization” of the enclave, closing off the territory’s southern border with Egypt, as well as the overhaul of Gaza’s civil administration and education systems.
The envisioned plan includes Israel closing off Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, giving Israel complete control of entry and exit from the enclave. At present, Egypt controls access to and from Gaza’s southern border via the Rafah crossing.
Netanyahu’s plan says Israel will cooperate “as much as possible” with Egypt, in coordination with the United States. It is not clear whether Israel has obtained Egypt’s sign-off on that element of the plan, or any part of it. But an Israeli official told CNN that the plan was “aligned” with the US.
The plan asserts, as Netanyahu has said before, that “Israel will have security control over the entire area west of Jordan,” which includes all of the West Bank and Israel, as well as Gaza. Israel will be responsible for “realizing and overseeing” the demilitarization of the Strip, the plan says, except for what is required to maintain public order.
So turning Gaza into the West Bank basically with even more control
On the civil level, Netanyahu details an overhaul of Gaza’s civil administration and education systems, including an apparent cut-off of funding from Qatar to Gaza – which a previous Netanyahu government approved and facilitated. The local entities running the civil service “will not be identified with countries or entities that support terrorism and will not receive payment from them,” the plan says.
While it is likely a reference to Qatar, it is not clear if it would also apply to the Palestinian Authority, a revitalized version of which the US has said should run Gaza in the future.
The Netanyahu plan also calls for “de-radicalization” in the education system, which Israel and its allies have long accused of promoting antisemitism and hatred of Israel. The plan repeats that Israel will work to shut down UNRWA, the main United Nations agency supporting Palestinian refugees, and work to replace it “with responsible international aid agencies.”
Finally, the plan reiterates Israel’s insistence that it will not be forced by the international community to recognize a Palestinian state, a possibility the United Kingdom and US President Joe Biden have begun to float.
“Israel outright rejects international dictates regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians,” the Netanyahu outline says, asserting that recognition of a Palestinian state now would be “a huge reward to unprecedented terrorism.”
While the ICJ hearings about the long ongoing occupation are ongoing, Netanyahu presents a plan to dial the oppression up even further.
Many of the proposals are opposed by key parties. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has already rejected the idea of a buffer zone. Egypt has rejected the suggestion that Israel could control its border with Gaza. And the United Arab Emirates has said that without a clear roadmap towards an independent Palestinian State – ruled out by Netanyahu – it won’t help foot the bill for Gaza’s reconstruction.
