Israel's Criminal "Aid Inspections"

Israel claims that it is not committing genocide in part because it is permitting aid to come into Gaza. The opposite is true.

At the beginning of January, "an average of around 120 trucks a day entered through Rafah and Kerem Shalom, according to UN figures, far below the 500 trucks of goods going in daily before the war and far below what aid groups say is needed," the Associated Press reported.

Trucks carrying aid can wait for weeks at the border and then be turned back arbitrarily. The trucks enter the Egyptian side of the border, drive along no-man's land to the Israeli facility at Nitzana for inspection by the military, then return to Rafah to cross into Gaza -- or go to Kerem Shalom for inspection and entry there. Kerem Shalom only operates eight hours a day, and is closed part of Friday and all day Saturday.

If inspectors reject a single item in a truck it must return with its entire cargo to be re-packaged, starting the weeks-long process all over again. Aid workers inform that tents are refused because they include metal poles, and the medical kits because they include scalpels. Most solar-powered equipment also appears to be barred. Palestinians are facing starvation and death by hypothermia due to lowering temperatures and lack of shelter.

---

This article was published in

Volume 54 Number 3 - January 10, 2024

Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/MS54038.HTM

Website:  www.cpcml.ca   Email:  editor@cpcml.ca