Two quick notes on that. First, the collapse
in the numbers is clearly catastrophic. Recall that Biden-- yes, that
same Biden-- promised us in early April that he would pressure the
Israelis to let more aid in.
Do you think he is even aware of the results of his efforts, as documented by UN-OCHA??
Second, that much-hyped U.S. Navy "pier" that was going to expedite the delivery of aid to Gaza... Yesterday U.S. officials told
the AP that it, "has been removed due to weather to protect it, and the
U.S. is considering not re-installing it." AP added that most of the
(actually quite small quantities of) aid that had been delivered via the
pier, "is still sitting in the adjacent storage yard because of the
difficulty that agencies have had moving it to areas in Gaza where it is
most needed, and that storage area is almost full."
Meantime, Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has spent a couple of
days in Washington, holding meetings with administration officials and
legislators. Since Israel is, under international law, the "occupying
power" in Gaza, Gallant is the government official most directly
responsible for the situation there. (He and the Israeli military
exercise their control of the Strip and of all the crossings in and out
of it via an arm of the military called "COGAT.")
How many of the officials or legislators that Gallant met with here do
you think pressed him with any degree of seriousness on the issue of the
horrendous humanitarian collapse in Gaza? I haven't heard any reports
that any of them did so, at all. Mainly, the readouts on his meetings
here dealt with efforts to prevent an all-out escalation between Israel
and Hizbullah, to its north.
Israeli officials have often used their "threats" to cause a conflagration in the north as a way to blackmail American officials into giving them a free hand in Gaza and the West Bank. (Oh, and by the way, on Thursday the Israeli cabinet approved the legalization of five new Israeli settlements in the West Bank.)
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