War in the Middle East: Struggle for more aid for Gaza

Given the catastrophic situation of the people in the embattled Gaza Strip, Israel is under increasing international pressure to allow more aid deliveries overland. On instructions from the government in Jerusalem, a convoy of six trucks carrying aid supplies from the World Food Program (WFP) was allowed to travel along a new Israeli military road to the north of the sealed-off coastal strip, as the army confirmed on Telegram.

It was a pilot project to prevent the aid supplies from falling into the hands of the Islamist Hamas. The results will now be presented to the government, the army said. Meanwhile, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell complained to the UN Security Council about a blockade of aid deliveries. Without naming Israel, he told the highest UN body in New York: “Hunger is being used as a weapon of war.”

Media: Netanyahu angry about US intelligence report

Meanwhile, according to a media report, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is deeply angered by a US intelligence report that raises the prospect of his imminent downfall. The head of government was foaming with anger, reported the news channel Channel 12. In their report published the day before, the American secret services had expressed the expectation that the Israeli population had lost trust in Netanyahu’s leadership qualities and would demand his resignation and new elections in mass protests. Netanyahu will therefore seek “a strong, public and dramatic confrontation” with US President Joe Biden, Channel 12 said, citing unnamed senior officials.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office sent the Israeli media a strong statement from a top government representative, who was also not named. “Israel is not a protectorate of the United States, but an independent and democratic country whose citizens are the ones who elect the government,” it said. “We expect our friends to bring down the terrorist regime of Hamas and not the elected government in Israel.” The USA is Israel’s most important ally. However, US President Biden recently criticized Netanyahu more and more openly because of the huge number of civilian victims in Gaza and because of the prevention of sufficient humanitarian aid.

UN urges more aid by truck

The United Nations has also recently been pushing to expand aid deliveries by truck and to allow goods to be transported via border crossings to the particularly affected north of the Palestinian territory. The World Food Program announced that the first successful convoy to the north since February 20th was able to deliver food for 25,000 people to the city of Gaza on the new military road on Tuesday night.

The route runs from the Mediterranean coast to the Israeli border near Kibbutz Beeri, which was attacked on October 7 in the massacre carried out by terrorists from the Islamist Hamas and other extremist groups in Israel. The massacre was the trigger for the war in the Gaza Strip.

Since the people in the north of the small coastal area are on the verge of famine, deliveries are needed every day, said the WFP. On the same day, the ship “Open Arms” set sail from Cyprus towards Gaza. It pulls a platform with around 200 tons of drinking water, medicine and food. Where and how the cargo will be unloaded in front of the Gaza Strip and how it will be distributed is still unclear. However, sea shipments of aid to the Gaza Strip cannot make up for the lack of urgently needed truck deliveries, according to a United Nations spokesman.

Pistorius gives the green light to drop aid supplies

Meanwhile, Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has given the green light for the air force to drop urgently needed relief supplies over the Gaza Strip. The SPD politician gave a corresponding order to the Bundeswehr on Wednesday, as the German Press Agency in Berlin learned. The military had previously confirmed corresponding preparations in which Bundeswehr C-130 transport aircraft stationed in France could be used.

“The people in Gaza lack the most basic necessities. We want to do our part to ensure that they have access to food and medicine,” said Pistorius. For this purpose, the Bundeswehr is providing two C-130 Hercules transport aircraft, each of which can transport up to 18 tons of load. And: “The truth is: the drop is not without danger. The crews designated for this purpose are trained in the relevant procedures and are very experienced.” Meanwhile, the Air Force inspector, Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz, issued a special permit for the dropping procedure.

Israel defends itself against criticism over the catastrophic supply situation in the Gaza Strip. The government explained that even more aid supplies are currently arriving in the sealed-off coastal strip than before the start of the war. A United Nations spokesman said it was not enough to count the trucks crossing border posts. According to UN information, the problem lies in the distribution of goods within the war zone. According to the UN emergency relief office in Okha, around February only half of all planned aid convoys reached the areas for which they were intended. Israeli support was missing for the remaining deliveries. The distribution requires coordination with the Israeli military.

“Red line”: Biden advisor rejects speculation

The White House, meanwhile, dismissed reports of possible political consequences in the event of an Israeli ground offensive in the southern Gaza town of Rafah. Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan commented on media reports that in such a case, Biden would consider making further military aid to Israel conditional. Those reports were based on “uninformed speculation” from anonymous sources, Sullivan said. Biden declared Israel’s possible Rafah offensive a “red line” in an interview over the weekend. In Rafah, 1.5 million Palestinians are currently seeking protection from the fighting in other areas of the Gaza Strip in a confined space and under miserable conditions.

Biden’s security advisor once again criticized the Israeli leadership’s mind games. “A military operation in Rafah that fails to protect civilians, that cuts off the main arteries of humanitarian aid and that puts enormous pressure on the Israel-Egypt border” is not something the US government can support, Sullivan said. “We are talking to the Israelis about it,” he emphasized. But the real question is what is happening on site, not what is being exchanged in the public sphere.