How inefficient can it be to deliver 7 trucks of aid
Open Arms aid ship approaches Gaza with 200 tonnes of food supplies
The Spanish aid ship Open Arms, which had left the Cypriot port of Larnaca on Tuesday carrying 200 tonnes of food, is approaching the besieged Gaza Strip, according to Al Jazeera reporters. The incoming aid is to be offloaded and distributed by local teams from the charity World Central Kitchen.
Why from Cyprus anyway (390 km to Gaza City Port), Al-Arish and Port Said are much closer
https://sczone.eg/services/al-arish-port/ 70 km to Gaza City port
https://sczone.eg/services/east-portsaid-port/ 200 km to Gaza City Port
It's 50 km by road, 52 minutes from Rafah crossing to Al-Arish port if you actually had intentions to circumvent Israel's border blockade by using ships.
Then a 4-5 hour journey by small ship to go from Al-Arish to Gaza City, instead of a 26 hour journey from Cyprus, after getting the aid to Cyprus.
UN reminds Israel of ‘responsibility’ to allow aid into and across Gaza
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says the Israeli army has “a responsibility to facilitate the movement of humanitarian aid into and across Gaza safely, regularly and at the scale required”.
“There is no alternative to the large-scale delivery of aid by land,” it said on X, adding that airdrops are “expensive, have a limited capacity, and can harm civilians”. The UN and other humanitarian agencies have repeatedly called on Israel to open more crossings into Gaza to facilitate the delivery of aid via land.
A report by Refugees International recently detailed how obstacles put in place by Israel were generating “famine-like conditions” in Gaza. Nonetheless, Israel has repeatedly insisted it is not blocking the passage of aid, blaming organisations including the UN for failing to deliver adequate assistance.
The Israeli military has a responsibility to facilitate the movement of humanitarian aid into and across #Gaza, safely, regularly and at the scale required.
There is no alternative to the large-scale delivery of aid by land.
Watch how humanitarian assistance reaches Gaza ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/tDcjJckQET
— UN Humanitarian (@UNOCHA) March 15, 2024
Biden condemns ‘ugly resurgence of Islamophobia’ during Israel’s war on Gaza
On the International Day to Combat Islamophobia, US President Joe Biden says his administration recognises “the violence and hate that Muslims worldwide too often face because of their religious beliefs – and the ugly resurgence of Islamophobia in the wake of the devastating war in Gaza”.
“Islamophobia has no place in our nation. Yet Muslims in the United States frequently endure baseless fearmongering, blatant discrimination, harassment, and violence in the course of their everyday lives,” he said in a statement released by the White House.
Rights groups have compared the resurgence of Islamophobia since October 7 to the stigma faced by Muslims after the attacks in the US on September 11, 2001. The Council on American-Islamic Relations said it received 3,578 complaints during the last three months of 2023 during what it called “an ongoing wave of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian hate”.
The figure was a 178-percent rise in complaints from the same period a year earlier.
The fucking stop treating Palestinians like disposable fodder. You're the president, you set the example. You're the biggest Islamophobe of all.
