Israel helped organize a convoy that ended in disaster
The Gaza aid convoy that ended in bloodshed this week was organized by Israel itself as part of a new partnership with local Palestinian businessmen, according to Israeli officials, Palestinian businessmen and Western diplomats.
Israel was involved in at least four such aid convoys to northern Gaza in the past week. Israeli officials told two Western diplomats that Israel has been scrambling to fill a gap in aid to northern Gaza, where famine looms as international aid agencies have suspended most operations, citing Israel’s refusal to greenlight aid trucks and the increasing lawlessness. Given the sensitivity of the matter, the diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity.
Israeli officials contacted several Gaza businessmen and asked them to help organize private aid convoys to the north, two of the businessmen said, while Israel would provide security.
The The United Nations has warned that more than 570,000 Gazans – mostly in northern Gaza – are facing “catastrophic levels of deprivation and famine” after nearly five months of war and a near-complete Israeli blockade of the territory following the October 7 attacks led by Hamas.
Some residents have resorted to raiding the pantries of neighbors who fled their homes, while others have ground livestock feed into flour. UN aid convoys carrying essential supplies to northern Gaza have been looted – either by civilians fearing famine or by organized gangs – amid the anarchy that followed Israel’s ground invasion.
“My family, friends and neighbors are starving,” said Jawdat Khoudary, a Palestinian businessman who helped organize some of the trucks involved in the Israeli aid initiative.
The convoy that arrived in Gaza City before dawn on Thursday ended tragically. More than a hundred Palestinians were killed after many thousands of people gathered around trucks loaded with food and supplies, Gaza health officials said.
Israeli and Palestinian officials and witnesses gave sharply differing accounts of the chaos. Witnesses described extensive shootings by Israeli forces, and doctors at hospitals in Gaza said most of the casualties were the result of gunfire. But the Israeli military said most of the victims were trampled by a crowd of people trying to seize the cargo.
Israel also acknowledged that its forces opened fire on crowd members who, the army said, approached the troops “in a manner that endangered them.”
The deaths sparked global outrage and increased pressure on Israel to reach a ceasefire agreement with Hamas, which would allow more aid to enter Gaza.
The United States has been trying to broker such a deal, and on Saturday, as the U.S. began its own effort to drop aid to Gaza, U.S. and Israeli officials said Vice President Kamala Harris will meet with Benny Gantz, a member of the Israeli government. war cabinet, Monday at the White House.
Israel has agreed to a plan that would include a six-week ceasefire, the release of dozens of the most “vulnerable” Israeli hostages in Gaza and the entry of more aid convoys into the area, a US official said.
The United States and other countries including Egypt and Qatar are trying to convince Hamas to accept the deal, the American official said on Saturday, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing diplomacy.
On Saturday afternoon, three U.S. Air Force cargo planes released 66 pallets containing 38,000 ready-to-eat meals over southwest Gaza — a small fraction of the food and other supplies needed in an area of 2.2 million people. President Biden had announced the airborne landings on Friday, saying: “Innocent lives are at stake.”
Izzat Aqel, a Gaza businessman who told The New York Times he had helped coordinate trucks in Thursday’s convoy, said an Israeli military officer had asked him about 10 days earlier to organize aid trucks to northern Gaza with as much food and water as possible.
And on Thursday, an Israeli military spokesman, Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, said this particular convoy was part of several days-long humanitarian operations in northern Gaza that Israeli forces were monitoring.
“Over the past four days, convoys like the one we had this morning – this morning there were 38 truckloads – have entered northern Gaza to distribute food supplies that are international donations, but in private vehicles,” he told British television channel Channel 4.
The convoy that ended in disaster left the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza before heading to areas of northern Gaza that had not seen aid for weeks, Mr. Aqel said. In an effort to ensure the trucks’ safety, he added, they ventured into northern Gaza in the dark around 4:45 a.m.
Since the start of the war, Israel has been reluctant to take responsibility for caring for Gaza’s citizens. But the bombing campaign and ground invasion have decimated Hamas’ control of northern Gaza, leaving a gaping security vacuum amid a humanitarian catastrophe that is worsening daily.
Conditions have rapidly deteriorated. The number of aid trucks entering Gaza fell significantly in February, both because of increasing lawlessness and Israel’s insistence on inspecting every truck, aid groups say.
The signs of despair become more and more apparent as time passes. Gaza residents have resorted to eating leaves and livestock feed, and Gaza health authorities reported this week that some children have died from malnutrition.
President Biden had said on Friday that the United States would begin dropping humanitarian supplies into Gaza, working with Jordan, which has recently been at the forefront of such efforts, and other allies.
But the plan drew immediate criticism from international aid groups, who said it would be ineffective and would distract from more meaningful measures, such as pushing Israel to lift the siege on Gaza.
“Airdrops are not and cannot replace humanitarian access,” the International Rescue Committee, a New York-based aid organization, said in a statement on Saturday. “Airdrops are not the solution to alleviate this suffering, and divert time and effort from proven solutions to help at scale.”
Egypt, France, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates have taken part in air drops into Gaza, but experts say they are inefficient, expensive and cannot possibly deliver enough aid to prevent famine. Given the disadvantages and dangers to people on the ground, airdrops are usually a last resort.
The United States and other countries should instead focus their efforts on “ensuring that Israel lifts its siege on Gaza” and getting Israel to reopen border crossings to allow the unhindered flow of fuel, food and medical supplies. according to the International Rescue Committee.
As hunger grows across Gaza, United Nations officials have warned that famine is looming. Categorizing a food crisis as a famine is a technical process that requires analysis by food insecurity experts.
According to the Integrated phase classification of food securityKnown as the IPC, which is monitored by the United Nations and major aid agencies, three conditions must be met before a food shortage is declared a famine: at least 20 percent of households face an extreme lack of food, at least 30 percent of children suffer from acute malnutrition and every day at least two adults or four children die for every 10,000 people from starvation or diseases related to malnutrition.
The IPC has been selective in declaring famines, identifying only two since its creation in 2004: in Somalia in 2011 and in South Sudan in 2017. In Somalia, more than 100,000 people died before the famine was officially declared.
Regardless of technical classification, the situation in Gaza, especially in the north, is dire. Two weeks ago, UNICEF said that one in six children in northern Gaza was severely malnourished. The Gaza Health Ministry said on Wednesday that at least six children in the area had died of dehydration and malnutrition.
Arif Husain, chief economist of the World Food Programme. said his goal was to improve conditions before famine broke out.
“What’s important to me is to basically say, ‘Look, technically we haven’t met the conditions of a famine, and frankly we don’t want to meet those conditions,’” he said. “So please help, and please help now.”
Gaya Gupta, Vivian Nereim, Michael Crowley, Erik Schmitt And Erica L. Green reporting contributed.