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SvennoJ on 01 March 2024
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Belgian MP says more needs to be done after international parliamentarians sign Israel arms embargo letter

Simon Moutquin, a member of the Belgian parliament and one of the signatories to the letter, told Al Jazeera that his own country had to act to stop Israel.

“As a signatory country of the Convention Against Genocide, [Belgium has] a legal and moral obligation to act and prevent the risk of genocide, so I think this letter … is a good first step, but we need to go further,” Moutquin said.

Speaking about European divisions on Gaza, Moutquin said that Europe risked its credibility to speak on Russia’s actions in Ukraine if it remained silent on Gaza.

“We need to really speak about international law,” he said. “We are so hypocritical in Europe to speak about international law when we speak about Ukraine and Russia, [but] if we don’t have the same [views] when we speak about the Palestinians, we will not have any credit in the future to speak about [it].”

WHO provides fuel, medical supplies to al-Shifa Hospital

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), said the body and other aid groups have managed to reach al-Shifa Hospital to supply it with aid for the first time in more than a month.

The teams delivered 19,000 litres (about 5,000 gallons) of fuel to the north Gaza facility, as well as “lifesaving medical supplies for 150 patients and treatment for 50 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition”, Tedros said in a post on X.

However, he noted that the facility’s capacity remains “very limited” due to scarce “supplies, fuel, water, and food” and that it was relying on volunteers to treat more than 240 patients.

“The level of destruction around the hospital is beyond words,” he said.

Dearborn mayor criticises Biden administration for not holding Israel accountable

A Democratic mayor in the US state of Michigan has reacted to the Biden administration’s plans to airdrop humanitarian supplies into Gaza by accusing it of failing to hold Israel accountable for blocking aid in the first place.

“To be clear: The US is dropping humanitarian aid because the Israeli government will NOT allow it into Gaza and our government refuses to hold Benjamin Netanyahu accountable,” Abdullah Hammoud, the mayor of the city of Dearborn, said on X.

Michigan is one of a handful of swing states that are likely to determine the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. The midwestern state has a significant population of Arab and Muslim Americans, many of whom are opposed to the war in Gaza and have expressed anger with Biden over his support for Israel.



Of course the air drops are coordinated with Israel as well, and fit in the starvation plan. Only 1 or 2 trucks of goods can be air dropped at a time, a negligible amount of which part fell in the sea last attempt. It's just a media smoke screen, photo op, providing aid theater. It's impractical and a huge waste of tax payer money.

White House responds to questions on US airdrop plan: ‘Why are we still so supportive of Israel?’

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby has been pointedly asked why the US continues to support Israel when its restrictions on aid into Gaza are the reason the US has to airdrop supplies into the Palestinian territory.

“The reason those risks now fall to the United States is because Israel is starving those people. So why are we still so supportive of Israel when it is the one that is creating the problem that the United States now has to try to alleviate?” Niall Stanage, a columnist for The Hill, asked Kirby during a White House briefing.

“Israel itself has tried to help with the delivery of humanitarian assistance, as I said, they tried airdrops themselves just a week or so ago on their own accord,” Kirby said in response. “It’s a war zone and there’s nowhere else for them to go. It’s not like in some other conflicts where they can easily flee,” Kirby said, blaming Hamas for creating the current circumstances in Gaza.

“There’d be no need for airdrops if Hamas hadn’t chosen to break what was a ceasefire in place on the 6th of October,” Kirby continued.

That's all the US says nowadays, Hamas Oct 7 Hamas Oct 7 Hamas Oct 7 Hamas Oct 7 Hamas Oct 7 Hamas Oct 7 Hamas Oct 7.

Ceasefire before October 7th? Even before Hamas' attack on October 7, Israeli forces had already killed 234 Palestinians in the West Bank this year, while settlers were responsible for nine more killings.
But yes technically there was a ceasefire after Operation Shield and Arrow in May
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_2023_Gaza%E2%80%93Israel_clashes

There would be no need for airdrops if you didn't cover Israel's atrocities all the way while providing the weapons to carry them out. Plus it's just another distraction to buy time, unless you have 300 daily air drop runs planned....