Netanyahu says Israel, US considering ‘alternative options’ to talks with Hamas
Despite insistence from Hamas that it is ready to work towards a deal, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that Israel and the US are weighing ways to secure the release of captives in Gaza that do not depend on a negotiated agreement with the Palestinian group.
“Hamas is the obstacle to a hostage release deal,” he claimed. “Together with our US allies, we are now considering alternative options to bring our hostages home, end Hamas’s terror rule, and secure lasting peace for Israel and our region.”
Trump says France’s recognition of Palestine ‘doesn’t carry weight’
The US president has dismissed French President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September.
“Here’s the good news: What he says doesn’t matter. It’s not going to change anything,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “He’s a very good guy. I like him, but that statement doesn’t carry weight.”
He also said he has spoken with the Israeli prime minister on the phone about the possibility of aerial aid drops over Gaza, but he did not offer details. He did, however, describe the conversation with Netanyahu as somewhat “disappointing”.
“We’re going to do more,” he said on getting humanitarian aid to starving Palestinians in the besieged enclave.
The phone call followed Israeli media reports that Israel could very soon allow for largely ineffective humanitarian aid drops over Gaza to resume.
Waste more tax payer money to 'justify' genocide. It didn't work a year ago, the situation is much worse now.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68478831
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Mr Mokbel said not enough aid was dropped to meet the basic needs of the large number of people in the area.
"Thousands of citizens saw the aid falling on them... And when hundreds or thousands wait in such areas, only around 10 to 20 people get things, while the others go back with nothing. Unfortunately, this method of dropping through air is not the most suitable way to transport aid to the north district of Gaza," he added.
"Gaza needs a land and water pathway to deliver the aid instead of [doing it in] such a manner, which doesn't meet the needs of all citizens."
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"Airdrops are expensive, haphazard and usually lead to the wrong people getting the aid," Jan Egeland, the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council and a former UN aid chief, told the BBC after returning from a recent three-day visit to Gaza.
In addition to that, only relatively small quantities can be delivered with each flight, in comparison to what a convoy of lorries can bring in, and significant ground co-ordination is required within the delivery zone, says the WFP.
....
"Delivering sudden and unsupervised types of food to people who are malnourished or even starving can pose serious risks to life. These risks need to be weighed against delivering nothing by air, or the delay a ground distribution may incur," the organisation warned in a 2016 report published when aid was being airdropped into Syria during the country's civil war.
It will just be a cynical ploy to invite stampedes and get people crushed to death with the current level of desperation. If not getting directly hit by aid falling on large crowds.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/08/gaza-aid-airdrop-kills-civilians-when-parachute-fails-to-open-witness-says
