The use of airdrops is a spectacular but inefficient way of delivering aid, and Friday’s announcement suggests that Biden had given up on being able to persuade Israel in the near future to coordinate a large-scale ground-based relief effort under the threat of mass starvation across Gaza.
Critics suggested it represented no more than a gesture, which obscured Biden’s reluctance to use US leverage to force Israel to be more cooperative in the delivery of humanitarian aid.
“Airdrops are not the solution to relieve this suffering, and distract time and effort from proven solutions to help at scale,” the International Rescue Committee aid organisation said. “All diplomatic focus should be on ensuring Israel lifts its siege of Gaza.”
Palestinian children hold out their empty containers to be filled with food in Rafah, Gaza on February 25, 2024. (Photo by Abed Zagout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
A new report by Human Rights Watch accuses the Israeli government of defying the International Court of Justice’s order to ensure the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
In the month since the International Court of Justice handed down its interim ruling in the genocide case brought by South Africa, the Israeli government has continued to impede the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip in violation of the court’s order, Human Rights Watch said Monday.
The ICJ’s January 26 ruling, which is legally binding, requires Israel to do everything in its power to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza and ensure that basic assistance flows to the enclave’s population.
But according to Human Rights Watch (HRW), “the daily average number of trucks entering Gaza with food, aid, and medicine dropped by more than a third in the weeks following the ICJ ruling: 93 trucks between January 27 and February 21, 2024, compared to 147 trucks between January 1 and 26, and only 57 between February 9 and 21.”
HRW’s analysis comes on the day the Israeli government is set to deliver its own 30-day assessment of compliance with the ICJ decision, which stated that Israel is plausibly committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The Times of Israel reported late Sunday that the government report “is being drafted by the Justice Ministry and the Foreign Ministry but will not be released to the press or general public, and both ministries have been extremely tight-lipped about the information in the document.”
Observers don’t expect the government’s self-assessment to reflect the catastrophic reality on the ground in Gaza, where most people are starving and at growing risk of infectious disease due to the scarcity of clean water and adequate shelter. Israel has been accused of firing on aid convoys and targeting crowds of civilians gathering to receive food and other assistance.
In desperation, some Gazans have resorted to eating grass and animal feed and drinking contaminated water. A majority of Gaza’s population is currently crowded into the city of Rafah, which Israel plans to invade whether or not there’s a cease-fire deal with Hamas.
“The Israeli government is starving Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians, putting them in even more peril than before the World Court’s binding order,” Omar Shakir, HRW’s Israel and Palestine director, said in a statement Monday. “The Israeli government has simply ignored the court’s ruling, and in some ways even intensified its repression, including further blocking lifesaving aid.”
“Failure to ensure Israel’s compliance puts the lives of millions of Palestinians at risk.”
HRW’s analysis notes that in addition to blocking food aid and medicine shipments, Israeli authorities have also obstructed the delivery of fuel, the lack of which has forced many of Gaza’s hospitals to shut down.
“Between February 1 and 15, Israeli authorities only facilitated 2 of 21 planned missions to deliver fuel to the north of the Wadi Gaza area in central Gaza and none of the 16 planned fuel delivery or assessment missions to water and wastewater pumping stations in the north,” the group said. “Fewer than 20% of planned missions to deliver fuel and undertake assessments north of Wadi Gaza have been facilitated between January 1 and February 15, as compared with 86% of missions planned between October and December.”
Israel’s mass killing of Gazans has also not stopped in the wake of the ICJ order, HRW said Monday. Pointing to figures from Gaza’s health ministry, the group noted that Israeli forces killed more than 3,400 people in the Palestinian enclave between the day of the ICJ ruling and February 23.
“Israel’s blatant disregard for the World Court’s order poses a direct challenge to the rules-based international order,” Shakir said. “Failure to ensure Israel’s compliance puts the lives of millions of Palestinians at risk and threatens to undermine the institutions charged with ensuring respect for international law and the system that ensures civilian protection worldwide.”
The Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor similarly concluded in a report released over the weekend that Israel is in “flagrant violation” of the ICJ’s order.
The group implored the international community “to uphold its legal and moral duties to the people of the Gaza Strip, and to ensure that the ICJ ruling is carried out to prevent the crime of genocide in the Gaza Strip.”
South Africa’s ICJ case against Israel has received widespread support as it faces increased criticism for its genocidal war on Gaza
Israel has come under fire over comments from a number of ultra right-wing ministers and politicians who have called for the complete and permanent transfer and expulsion of the Palestinian population of Gaza. The officials have suggested that Gazans should be forcibly transferred to other countries in the region, as well as to countries in Africa.
The United Nations, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, France, the European Union, as well as Israel’s primary backer, the United States, among others have condemned these statements and noted that such a move would constitute a grave violation of international law.
Israel’s far right Minister of Security Itamar Ben-Gvir responded to the criticism from the US stating: “Really appreciate the United States of America but with all due respect we are not another star on the American flag. The United States is our best friend, but first of all we will do what is best for the State of Israel: the migration of hundreds of thousands from Gaza will allow the residents of the enclave to return home and live in security and protect the IDF soldiers.”
Harsh criticisms have been lodged from progressives at the US and France who allege that their policies supporting Israel financially and politically throughout their genocidal war on Gaza have created the conditions for Israel to openly fantasize about this escalation of ethnic cleansing.
The growing international alarm and condemnation comes just a week before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is scheduled to hold public hearings over the genocide case that South Africa has filed against Israel over its war in Gaza. Turkey and Malaysia, have both endorsed the South African case against Israel.
Notably, the National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby rejected the case, an 84-page application, and called it “meritless”.
Worsening humanitarian crisis across Gaza
The United Nations has once again reiterated that the humanitarian situation in Gaza will continue to deteriorate if there is no ceasefire, emphasizing that a number of areas have been rendered completely inaccessible due to Israel’s shelling.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) wrote in an update: “The UN and other humanitarian partners have been unable to deliver urgently needed life-saving humanitarian assistance north of Wadi Gaza for three days due to access delays and denials, as well as active conflict. This includes medicines that would have provided vital support to more than 100,000 people for 30 days, as well as eight trucks of food for people who currently face catastrophic and life-threatening food insecurity.”
The office added, “Humanitarian organizations are calling for urgent, safe, sustained and unhindered humanitarian access to areas north of Wadi Gaza, which has been severed from the south for more than a month.”
The OCHA along with the World Health Organization also reported that “more than 400,000 cases of infectious diseases have been reported since 7 October, with some 180,000 people suffering from upper respiratory infections. There also have been more than 136,000 cases of diarrhea reported — half among children under the age of 5.”
Humanitarian organizations have emphasized that there is an urgent, critical need for humanitarian assistance, including medical aid, to treat and save the lives of those suffering from diseases and illnesses and to alleviate the extreme suffering and hardships of the population of around 2.1 million, of which 1.9 million are currently internally displaced.
Day 90
Scores of Palestinians have been killed in fresh airstrikes and ground bombardment over the last 24 hours in Gaza.
The total death toll since October 7 has risen to at least 22,438 Palestinians killed, including more than 9,000 children and 4,000 women, along with more than 57,614 injured, more than 75% of whom are women and children. 7000 other Palestinians are reported missing, feared to be trapped under the rubble of the widespread destruction and rubble of damaged buildings.
Hospitals continue to be targeted by Israel. The al-Amal hospital and the surrounding areas in Khan Younis run by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has been under Israeli attack for the past two weeks according to a PRCS statement which has endangered the lives of thousands of IDPs who were taking refuge there. “The displaced persons are living in an atmosphere of horror and panic. This has forced dozens of them to leave again this morning and yesterday, fearing for their lives after they took refuge in the PRCS as a safe place protected by international humanitarian law.”
They reported that in addition to killing and injuring patients and displaced persons taking refuge at al-Amal, the Israeli bombing destroyed the transmitter station of the PRCS VHF communications which creates “a major obstacle to the response of ambulance crews to the wounded, the sick, and humanitarian cases.”
The UK has the worst safety net for the unemployed in north-west Europe
Viewers have taken issue with a statement by Tory MP Chris Philp who claimed that the UK’s benefits system is ‘very generous’, in an interview this morning.
Speaking to Sky News on the steep rise of shoplifting, the Policing Minister was asked if he had any sympathy for people stealing for food. He argued that there was “no excuse” because the UK’s benefits system is “very generous”.
Philp said: “We have a very generous benefits system, we’re spending well over £100 billion on working-age benefits, they went up by 10% in April this year they’ll go up by another 6 or 7%. National Minimum Wage has just gone up by around 10%. There is no excuse at all for any criminal activity, including shoplifting.”
However, people were not impressed at being told by a politician, who’s current net worth is around £3 million, that the benefits system is ‘very generous’. One X user responded: “Here is a challenge for Chris Philp – try living on ‘generous’ UK benefits for a month and then report back.”
Another wrote: “Clearly living in his own bubble. How disconnected from reality. The rental prices, bills have risen to unmanageable levels, the benefit system is completely inadequate.”
Original article republished from Middle East Monitor under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
An aerial view of makeshift tents of Palestinian families, who left their homes and took refuge in Rafah city due to ongoing Israeli attacks in Rafah, Gaza on January 01, 2024 [Mohammed Fayq – Anadolu Agency]
A Saudi national fundraising campaign to provide aid for the people of Gaza has, so far, raised more than SR600 million ($160 million), organisers said on Monday, Arab News reports.
According to the report, the initiative was launched on 2 November, 2023 by Saudi aid agency, KSrelief, through the Sahem platform for charitable donations, in line with directives from King Salman and Crown Prince, Mohammed Bin Salman.
The report says the platform called Sahem, especially in the context of the Gaza war, stands as a remarkable example of how digital platforms can mobilise support and resources for humanitarian causes.
The delivery of the aid, which includes 24 tons of food, medical and shelter supplies, is being coordinated by KSrelief to help Palestinians affected by the conflict within the Gaza Strip, the report added.
