Airdrops, humanitarian pauses ‘not going to save those who are dying’
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud says that witnesses reported seeing cargo planes flying at low levels over the shore of northern Gaza, where the Israeli airdrop of aid took place not long ago.
“But it’s an area that’s restricted in terms of movement. It’s in the line of fire of the Israeli military, very close to the Zikim crossing in the northern part of the Strip. Hundreds of tanks are stationed in that area. It will be very difficult for people to verify or get their hands on any of the aid dropped in that area,” he reported from Gaza City.
Mahmoud also explained that the airdrop, which Israel said earlier would include seven pallets, will have no concrete effect on the starvation gripping the enclave.
“We’re talking about only seven pallets of aid filled with flour and other basic necessities. That’s almost the load of one truck, or half a truck, coming from the crossings into the Gaza Strip. Again, we’re looking at an example of performative acts here, similar to what happened at the sites of the notorious GHF,” he said.
Equally, Israel’s plan to allow for so-called “humanitarian pauses” in Gaza starting on Sunday will also have no effect on the starvation crisis, Mahmoud said.
“Again, this is not a solution when we talk about passing the tipping point of this enforced starvation, and according to medical sources we spoke to earlier today, they confirmed that at this point, we’re going to see mass-scale starvation mortality.
“Airdropping food or opening humanitarian corridors is a little too late now to save lives. Two million people are hungry, haven’t had any proper access to food for the past 140 days, or a little over that. Whatever is done now is not going to save those who are dying inside the hospitals.”
Israel’s Ben-Gvir slams planned Gaza aid increase, calls for total siege
Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has lambasted the government’s announced plans to increase aid to Gaza, saying it amounts to “surrendering to Hamas’s false campaign”.
“The only way to win the war and return the hostages is to completely stop ‘humanitarian’ aid, occupy the entire strip and encourage voluntary migration,” Ben-Gvir wrote in a post on X.
Ben-Gvir, who has repeatedly called for cutting off all aid to Gaza during the war, said Netanyahu excluded him from a high-level security meeting where the decision to allow more aid was made.
It's not even an aid increase, it's just show. Ben-Gvir most likely knows this and is just playing this up to make it seem to Israelis that there is aid...
