Israel is trying to use aid blockade to extort a ceasefire deal
More than a month after Israel closed all border crossings preventing any food or other goods from entering Gaza, Palestinians are struggling to find any food to eat. Now, Israel is using the blockade to try to extort a temporary ceasefire deal in exchange for allowing critically needed aid back into Gaza.
Palestinians wait in long lines for hot meals distributed by an aid organisation in Deir el-Balah, Gaza on Tuesday
Talks of ceasefire as Palestinians in Gaza face ‘death and starvation or ethnic cleansing'
Efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza are running into challenges. Israel is trying to extort a temporary ceasefire deal in exchange for allowing critically needed aid back to Gaza. On the ground, Palestinians are desperate. They need a ceasefire to survive.
Israel will also only promise to discuss ending its genocidal war on Gaza if Hamas agrees to disarm and exile up to 200 of its members from the Strip. Hamas has shown flexibility on many issues but the movement says laying down its arms without ending the occupation is a red line.
But Hamas is running out of options. Gaza is in ruins. People are running out of hope and patience. And even if Hamas agrees to surrender and transform politically, Palestinians fear Israel will not end the genocide.
As offers and counteroffers are exchanged, the UN says the viability of life itself in Gaza is fading.
It all seems like a dead end. Hamas is being asked to self-destruct without any guarantees of a political breakthrough. Israel enjoys American political and military support. All while the Palestinians are staring into the abyss – death and starvation or ethnic cleansing.
Troops will remain in Gaza ‘security zones’ indefinitely: Israeli defence minister
“Unlike in the past, the [Israeli military] is not evacuating areas that have been cleared and seized,” Israel Katz has said in a statement.
Israeli forces “will remain in the security zones as a buffer between the enemy and [Israeli] communities in any temporary or permanent situation in Gaza – as in Lebanon and Syria.”
Israeli forces have taken over large areas of Gaza in recent weeks in a renewed campaign to pressure Hamas to release the remaining captives after they ended the ceasefire unilaterally last month.
Israel has also refused to withdraw from some areas in Lebanon following a ceasefire with Hezbollah last year, and it seized a buffer zone in southern Syria after the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad.
No humanitarian aid will enter Gaza: Israeli defence minister
“Israel’s policy is clear and no humanitarian aid will be allowed into Gaza,” Israel Katz said in a statement on X. Preventing humanitarian aid from entering the Strip “is one of the main pressure tools that stops Hamas from using this means against the population,” Katz said.
“In the current reality, no one is going to allow any humanitarian aid into Gaza, and no preparations are being made to allow any aid of this kind,” he said.
Israeli authorities have blocked all aid from entering Gaza for more than six weeks, worsening the already catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza. Earlier today, charity Doctors Without Borders, or MSF, denounced the “full siege” of Gaza, which has depleted food, fuel and medical stocks.
How much more proof of intent for genocide does the ICJ need?
