Let's catch up with how things are going in Gaza since the ceasefire.... Hamas is seizing nearly all the food aid trucks and selling the food to raise money to make more rockets. This has let to some contention and fire-fights inside Gaza. Sometime Hamas is fighting with bandits (typically family clans) over the food. Other times Hamas is just firing at desperate mobs of people who want the food aid they were promised -- which should be for free and not require payment to Hamas for food. Hamas accused of diverting aid as over 2,400 trucks enter Gaza during Israel cease-fire https://nypost.com/2025/01/23/world...0-trucks-enter-gaza-during-israel-cease-fire/ Watch: Firefight erupts between Hamas and bandits over Gaza aid trucks https://www.yahoo.com/news/watch-firefight-erupts-between-hamas-191331609.html ‘If Hamas survives, peace will be difficult,’ says Middle East expert The Islamist organization has resumed making rockets in underground tunnels and is financing itself through the selling of humanitarian aid. https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-839118
This article is more than 1 month old Aid officials recount violent looting in Gaza as criminal gangs thrive amid Israeli bombardment Recent attack on trucks carrying flour has deprived starving civilians of food as territory teeters on edge of famine Jason Burke in Jerusalem Fri 29 Nov 2024 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...riminal-gangs-thrive-amid-israeli-bombardment Aid officials and witnesses have described the chaotic and violent moments when a huge convoy carrying enough flour to bake bread for two-thirds of the population of Gaza for a week was looted this month. The officials made clear the attack was undertaken by groups of criminals, not civilians who were now being deprived of food in a territory close to famine. The attack on 17 November was the most serious after months of escalating violence directed at aid convoys in Gaza, where experts have warned of imminent famine. The UN estimates a third or more of its aid entering Gaza is looted. One official said: “It is organised crime on a massive scale. They are taking supplies paid for by member states. It is another horrendous consequence of the war and it is an utter disgrace that things have been allowed to get this bad.” Aid officials said the attack on the convoy had very serious consequences. “Pick up of supplies and fuel has stopped completely. For fuel it is a mess, as it means we are more or less grounded until the situation is fixed,” one said on Wednesday. Another said the convoy had been bringing in enough flour to run bakeries for 1.5 million people in central and southern Gaza for about seven days. After the attack, the World Food Programme (WFP) emptied its warehouses, distributing enough flour for two days, an official said. A small convoy last week managed to bring in enough for a further 72 hours. “It’s hand to mouth. There’s absolutely nothing in reserve. If we run out, the bakeries shut and a million and a half people go hungry,” he said. Displaced Palestinians queue for food in Deir al-Balah. The looted convoy was carrying enough flour to bake bread for two-thirds of the population for a week. Photograph: Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock UN agencies say law and order has deteriorated across Gaza since Israel began targeting police officers, who guarded aid convoys, this year. Israel considers police in Gaza, which has been run by Hamas since 2007, an integral part of the militant Islamist organisation. Hundreds of convicted criminals escaped early in the conflict after prisons were bombed or police fled. Aid agencies say COGAT, the Israeli military agency that deals with humanitarian aid into Gaza, has refused to act effectively against increasingly daring looters. The UN had been assured by the Israeli military that the route of the convoy had been secured, officials said. “Most of the organised looting has been taking place in a zone the [Israeli military] control. They don’t have troops there, but their [armed drones] are everywhere,” said one humanitarian official. Another UN aid official in Gaza said he had seen armed looters “within spitting distance of an Israeli tank”. Continues.....
US orders halt to virtually all foreign aid except for Israel and Egypt Guardian staff and agencies in Washington Sat 25 Jan 2025 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/24/foreign-aid-israel-egypt Internal memo to US state department staff explicitly makes exceptions for military assistance to Israel and Egypt Marco Rubio, has ordered a halt to virtually all US foreign aid, but made an exception for funding to Israel and Egypt, according to an internal memo to staff at the US state department. “No new funds shall be obligated for new awards or extensions of existing awards until each proposed new award or extension has been reviewed and approved … as consistent with President Trump’s agenda,” said the memo. The sweeping order appears to affect everything from development assistance to military aid – including potentially to Ukraine, which received billions of dollars in weapons under Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden as it tries to repel a Russian invasion. But the memo explicitly made exceptions for military assistance to Israel – whose longstanding major arms packages from the US have expanded further since the Gaza war – and Egypt, which has received generous US defense funding since it signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. Continues....
Only Democracy in mid-East Strikes again with more freedom for Jews! Think for yourself, if you agre with us!
14m ago (10:40 GMT) Israeli minister praises Trump for US delivery of big bombs Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar thanked US President Donald Trump for authorising the release of a shipment of 2,000-pound (900kg) bombs to Israel that had previously been halted by the Biden administration. “Thank you President Trump for yet another display of leadership by releasing the crucial defence shipment to Israel,” Saar said on X. The Middle East is safer when “Israel has what it needs to defend itself”, he added. The MK-84 is a 2,000-pound ordnance and one of the heaviest pieces provided to Israel by the United States. The US suspended MK-84 supplies in May, worried Israel may use them to assault southern Gaza’s Rafah, which Israel proceeded to invade. Armies tend to use the MK-84 sparingly but Israel is reported to have used it heavily on Gaza.