Hard to say whether there are more horrific war crimes than straight up lies each day or vice versa.
Israel claims ‘excess capacity’ for Gaza aid despite overwhelming evidence
Israel continues to insist that it has no responsibility concerning the desperate lack of humanitarian aid going to Palestinians despite the UN and many others showing evidence to the contrary.
The idea that Israel is blocking aid is “simply a lie”, said Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy on X. “There is no limit to the amount of food, water, medicine, or shelter equipment that can enter via Israel. There is EXCESS CAPACITY at Israel’s crossings for more to enter.”
This comes after Washington resorted to airdropping a limited amount of food into the Gaza Strip since aid could not enter Gaza via Israeli-controlled border crossings and after the killings in the aid convoy in which 118 people have died so far.
Israeli protesters have also repeatedly gathered at border crossings with Gaza to prevent aid from being taken into the enclave.
Israeli army denies intentionally killing people in aid convoy massacre
The spokesman for the Israeli army, Daniel Hagari, told a news conference that Israeli soldiers did not intentionally open fire on hungry Palestinians in the aid convoy massacre that left at least 118 dead and more in critical condition.
“This was a humanitarian operation we conducted, and the claim that we intentionally struck the convoy and intentionally harmed people is baseless,” he was quoted as saying by Times of Israel. “We are investigating this incident, we have all the footage we need to complete an exhaustive investigation and find out the truth of the facts of this incident, and we will present the findings,” Hagari said.
The army had previously released edited drone footage of the incident and confirmed its soldiers fired on Palestinians, but claimed most were killed in a stampede – despite overwhelming eyewitness reports of Israel shooting at the crowd, and a UN team reporting that many of those injured had gunshot wounds.
Former US ambassador says airdrops are ‘humiliation’
The former US ambassador to Algeria and Syria wrote in a social media post that – aside from a 1967 Israeli air raid on the USS Liberty, which killed 34 American crew – the US being forced to airdrop aid to Gaza on Saturday were the worst-ever Israeli humiliation of the US.
“Forcing [the] USA to do airdrops of aid to Gaza as if [the] USA is no better than Egypt [and] Jordan is Israel’s worst humilitation of [the] USA [I’ve] ever seen,” Ford, who is now a fellow at the Middle East Institute, wrote.
“I should add that [the] USA will do humanitarian aid airdrops to Gazans if the Israeli Air Force graciously agrees not to shoot down the American planes over Gaza,” Ford added.
i've seen Israel humiliate previous US administrations, but aside from murderous 1967 Israeli airstrike against US navy ship Liberty, now forcing USA to do airdrops of aid to Gaza as if USA is no better than Egypt & Jordan is Israel's worst humiliation of USA i've ever seen.
— Robert Ford (@fordrs58) March 1, 2024
Airdrops ‘close to the worst way to deliver aid’, says former US disaster relief official
“You only resort to [airdrops] when there is something on the ground blocking you from using better forms of transportation,” Jeremy Konyndyk, the president of Refugees International and a former disaster relief official in the [former US President Barack] Obama and [US President Joe] Biden administrations, told Al Jazeera.
“They’re very expensive, they’re dangerous because there’s a lot that can go wrong when things drop and they deliver a very small volume of aid. Relative to the level of need that exists in Gaza today, this is not enough to make a meaningful dent in the humanitarian crisis.
“You have to ask, why is this necessary? Well, it’s necessary because over the last nearly five months, the Israeli military offensive has made it virtually impossible for normal humanitarian operations to exist in Gaza,” Konyndyk added.
“They could be opening more border crossings – they have refused to do that. Even the two crossings in the south that are open have seen their volumes decline in the last few weeks. And they’ve made it very difficult for humanitarian groups to operate within Gaza – there have been air strikes on humanitarian facilities, there was a naval strike on a UN food convoy heading to the north that was actually [previously] stopped at an Israeli checkpoint at the time.”
“So this resort to air strikes is a reflection of how impossible the Israeli government has made it to conduct normal and frankly more effective humanitarian operations inside Gaza.”
UNICEF chief says many children ‘on the brink’ of death from starvation in Gaza
Commenting after the death of 10 children in Gaza from malnutrition, UNICEF head Catherine Russell wrote in a social media post that one in six children in Gaza under the age of two are acutely malnourished.
“For children in Gaza, every minute counts in safely accessing nutrition, water, medical care & protection from bullets & bombs,” Russell wrote. “This requires a humanitarian ceasefire NOW.”
Severe malnutrition can be deadly or leave young children with permanent cognitive & physical damage.
For children in Gaza, every minute counts in safely accessing nutrition, water, medical care & protection from bullets & bombs.
This requires a humanitarian ceasefire NOW.
— Catherine Russell (@unicefchief) March 2, 2024
Israeli attack on displaced in tents ‘outrageous’: WHO chief
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization, was reacting to the news earlier today that an Israeli attack on displaced Palestinians living in tents in Rafah had killed 11 people. Ghebreyesus said the incident was “outrageous and unspeakable”, and added that two heath workers were among the dead.
“We urge [Israel] to cease fire,” he added.
Reports that tents sheltering displaced people in Rafah were bombed - reportedly killing 11 people and injuring 50, including children - are outrageous and unspeakable.
Among those killed are two health workers.
Health workers and civilians are #NotATarget, and must be…
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) March 2, 2024
Palestinian child killed by Israeli forces in West Bank
The child, 13-year-old Mohammad Khaled Zaid, was shot by Israeli forces near the Jalazone camp north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
Mahdi Hamdan, the head of Jalazone Media Centre, told Al Jazeera that gunfire had been heard near Jalazone, and that news emerged about a child being injured. However, it was an hour before the child, Mohammad Khaled Zaid, was found near the separation wall, close to the illegal settlement of Beit El.
“We reached him and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society tried to provide emergency first aid,” Hamdan said. “He was unconscious and didn’t have a heartbeat. He was transferred to Ramallah Government Hospital where it was announced that he had died.”
Ahmed Jibril of the PRCS said that Zaid had been shot in the back and left to bleed for nearly an hour. PRCS workers attempted to resuscitate him but failed. Zaid was his parents’ only son, Hamdan said, adding that the child’s death had brought the total number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Jalazone since October 7 to six.
