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SvennoJ 3 days ago
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Israel eyes Gaza aid cuts as Trump takes office: Report

Israel is reportedly considering significant reductions of the already minimal amounts of humanitarian aid it allows into the Gaza Strip as US President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office, a news report says.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported current aid levels may be reduced in the coming weeks following Trump’s inauguration on January 20.

An unnamed Israeli “political source” told the network: “We doubt the amount of aid currently allowed into Gaza will remain the same under Trump’s administration. If such a decision is made to reduce aid, it will be coordinated with the new US administration.”

Continuing aid deliveries would help Hamas maintain its hold over Gaza, the source added.




Israel has a ‘complete monopoly’ over Gaza aid

Mansour Shouman, a Palestinian journalist and humanitarian worker, spoke to Al Jazeera and explained there are two ways in which aid comes into Gaza.

The first is via charities that only Israel allows to enter the Palestinian enclave. They are mostly run by the UN and the aid is distributed to warehouses, he said.

However, the most common method is done through businessmen in Gaza who deal directly with Israel, a setup that was in place before the war. Businessmen buy goods in bulk, bring them in, and then sell them “at the prices they want, at the time they want”.

“A lot of local charities have to go and negotiate with these businessmen who deal directly with the Israeli authorities … and then they distribute it for free or to the people,” said Shouman.

Both methods create “a complete monopoly” for Israel of what gets into Gaza and the prices the items are sold at, he added.

‘Never in the history of the United Nations’

UNWRA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, again urged Israel to reverse its ban on the organization that is crucial in providing desperately needed aid to the besieged people of Gaza.

“What needs to happen is for the Israeli parliament to retract the decision,” said the agency’s communications director Juliette Touma.

In November, Israel’s parliament adopted two controversial bills banning UNRWA from operating in Israeli territory, while closing its premises in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and war-battered Gaza.

The move has received widespread condemnation.

Israeli attack deliberately targets Gaza aid convoy security guards

The attacks continued until the early hours of this morning. The latest strike that targeted an empty residential home in the city of Deir el-Balah was at about 4am. We know from our sources and witnesses that this residential home was warned in the past but it was not until the early hours of this morning that it was bombed by a fighter jet.

Throughout the night, attacks continued to be carried out across the city of Khan Younis, where there were three separate attacks.

One was on a privately owned vehicle by a private security company carrying five security personnel. It was struck by a drone missile. This particular vehicle and the staff inside was tasked with securing the delivery of commercial and humanitarian trucks to designated points.

This is a pattern that we’ve seen in the past few months where security personnel and those who volunteer from the local community are targeted and killed deliberately in what seems to be an attempt by the Israeli military to create a further power vacuum and throw the entire Gaza Strip into mayhem and the chaos of lawlessness.