NOTE: The Jews have on multiple occasions fired at individuals waiting for food aid, at least once allegedly sending fake text messages to Gazans, telling them to assemble and then shooting at them when they did; the Jews have also attacked food aid convoys and those who accompanied them several times.
According to OCHA, about 2.2 million (out of total population of 2.3 million) are facing Crisis, Emergency, or Famine levels of food insecurity.
Samantha Power, director of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), said, “More than 500 trucks should be entering Gaza daily. In the past week only ~85/day managed to get through,” Power said in a social media post.
“Everything behind me here at this WFP [World Food Program] warehouse in Jordan should be in Gaza to address what WFP calls ‘catastrophic levels of hunger.’”
While the US has insisted that Israeli authorities must allow more aid into Gaza, it has exerted little pressure when Israel has refused to do so. Meanwhile, the administration of US President Joe Biden is working with Congress to secure more than $14bn in additional aid to Israel.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the number of trucks entering Gaza has decreased by 40 percent since the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to allow more aid into Gaza.
The ICJ ruling was for Israel to take steps to prevent genocide in Gaza.
Coincidentally, Samantha Power – a leading official in the Biden administration – is a renowned scholar on genocide.
Al Jazeera reports: Israel has allowed the entry of just 10 aid trucks into the northern part of the Gaza Strip amid reports of starvation, according to Al Jazeera correspondents.
Al Jazeera reports: Marking the International Day of Solidarity with Palestinian Journalists, Nasser Abu Bakr, head of the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, says that in addition to their high death toll, Palestinian journalists are working under brutal conditions.
“Two of their colleagues remain missing, and 80 media centers and organizations have been destroyed. There is no infrastructure to support them or provide them with safety. Since October 7, dozens have been arrested while 1,500 homes belonging to journalists have been destroyed,” he told Al Jazeera.
“Journalists in Gaza live in shelters, schools and hospitals without the most basic human necessities,” but, says Abu Bakr, “they continue to work and convey the truth about the crimes taking place against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.“
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) suspended all humanitarian coordination procedures on medical missions in the Gaza Strip for the next 48 hours, due to the failure to ensure the safety and security of the Society’s Emergency Medical Services teams, the wounded and the sick in PRCS hospitals, centers, and ambulances as a result of the lack of commitment and respect of the Israeli occupation forces…
Yesterday evening, PRCS evacuated a number of patients…[with] approval from the Israeli occupation forces for this evacuation.
Despite the fact that the occupation forces knew the route of the convoy and the names and identity numbers of the staff accompanying the patients, the Israeli occupation forces intercepted the convoy for more than 7 hours and mistreated its members…and arrested three medics... (Read the full statement here.)
OCHA reports: On 23 February, PRCS carried out a fourth evacuation mission of wounded and sick patients from Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, supported by WHO and OCHA. The cases were transported to hospitals in Deir al Balah, Khan Younis, and Rafah and included two newborn babies who had lost their mothers, according to PRCS.
WEST BANK – Al Jazeera reports: During the first nine months of 2023, Israel demolished a total of 97 Palestinian homes. But in the next four months, since the Hamas attack on October 7th, 87 homes have been bulldozed in East Jerusalem, according to Ir Amim, a local non-profit which monitors home demolitions and advocates for Palestinian rights.
The acute uptick in demolitions suggests that Jerusalem’s municipality is exploiting the global attention on Gaza, to try and uproot more Palestinians from East Jerusalem, activists and experts say.
“These [demolitions] are done under the guise of law enforcement – as if it is a bureaucratic measure – but it is actually a form of state violence and it serves as a mechanism of Palestinian displacement to drive them from the city,” said Amy Cohen, the director of international relations and advocacy for Ir Amim. (Read more here.)
We recommend visiting the International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC) for more regional news.
Middle East Monitor op-ed on the self-immolation of Aaron Bushnell (excerpt): [When airman Aaron Bushnell set himself on fire, shouting “Free Palestine] Secret Service spokesperson Joe Routh explained that officers of its uniformed division responded to what appeared to be “an individual that was experiencing a possible medical/mental health emergency.”
Of course, it is easy — and convenient — to describe Bushnell’s dramatic self-immolation as a mental breakdown.
But what if Bushnell’s protest was more of a cry for help? Certainly, looking at social networks, his sacrifice resonated with a lot of people who [have seen] the graphic images uploaded by Palestinians filming their own genocide. The Palestinians hope that their suffering, viewed by tens of millions around the world, will stop the brutal onslaught.
The order in the White House today has to be this simple: “Get Netanyahu on the line.”
Don’t let Aaron Bushnell’s protest and self-sacrifice be in vain, President Biden. When a young, white man in a US military uniform screams: “Free Palestine” whilst in agonizing death throes, surely to God you must listen — and then make that call. (Read the full op-ed here.)
Reuters reports: Hamas has received a draft proposal from Gaza truce talks in Paris for a pause in military operations and the exchange of Palestinian prisoners for Israeli hostages, a senior source close to the talks said. Read the details of the proposal here.
Middle East Eye reports: Hamas says leaked Gaza truce proposal doesn’t meet its demands
Summary of International Court of Justice proceedings
On Monday, the UN’s supreme judicial body, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) concluded oral hearings on the legal consequences of Israel’s 56-year belligerent occupation of the Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.
A few highlights from Mondoweiss:
Belizean Ambassador Assad Shoman said, “No state reserves to itself the right to systematically violate the rights of a people to self-determination … except Israel. No state seeks to justify the indefinite occupation of another’s territory … except Israel. No state commits annexation and apartheid with impunity, except — it seems – Israel … Israel must be made to behave like all civilized nations, Stop violating international law and UN resolutions! Respect the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. Palestine must be free!”
Vusimuzi Madonsela, South African ambassador to the Netherlands, said, “We as South Africans sense, see, hear and feel to our core the inhumane, discriminatory policies and practices of the Israeli regime as an even more extreme form of the apartheid that was institutionalized against black people in my country.”
With a few exceptions, Israel’s allies seem to have accepted the inevitability of an ICJ Advisory Opinion and are now in damage control.
(Read the full article – an excellent summary of the court proceedings – here.)
RECOMMENDED READING (Mondoweiss): Extraordinary charges of bias emerge against NYTimes reporter Anat Schwartz
Ahead of Tuesday’s Michigan primary, DMFI PAC is running a new digital ad called “Be Committed,” urging viewers to “be sure to vote for Joe Biden” — a tacit response to calls for voters to cast their ballots for “Uncommitted” over his stance on Israel. https://t.co/DVrkvsCnW0
— Matthew Kassel (@matthewkassel) February 23, 2024
Jewish Insider reports on a push to get pro-Israel university students, particularly Jewish students, to “lean in” to their support for Israel.
Adam Lehman, CEO of Hillel International, said, “There’s an enormous pressure on all Jewish organizations, including Hillel, to downgrade commitments to Israel and to step back from core values as it relates to Zionism. Jewish students, like Jewish organizations in the diaspora, are swimming in an ocean of extreme demonization of Israel. We have taken that demonization, that external pressure, and actually used it to strengthen our commitments.”
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