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Despite huge criticisms from abroad, Israel seems to believe that its war strategy in Gaza is slowly operating thanks to the efforts of the mysterious New Gaza Humaninian Foundation (GHF).
Now two weeks after its operations, the GHF has resumed humanitarian supplies to the besieged enclave, but more and more at a terrible cost.
More than 110 people were killed or near the Gaza aid distribution sites. A few, it seemswere killed by Israeli soldiers; others by unknown armed men. Still others have been killed in chaos that predicts people who rush to obtain limited supplies.
A new analysis Through the crisis group, an NGO that studies world conflicts, concludes that the Israeli army has transformed Gaza into a giant “famine experience” and creates conditions for the forced displacement of its population by keeping people fed just enough to stay alive, but hungry enough to rebel against Hamas.
“Israel uses food as a weapon of war,” the author of the Robert Blecher report told CBC News.
“One hundred percent of Gaza faces fatal food insecurity,” he said. “There are best practices that [Israel] It could choose to follow, but they chose not to follow them. “”
Weaken Hamas
In recent statements, the Israeli army has noted He believes His tactics have weakened the grip of the militant group on the territory, as evidenced by the will of the Palestinians to ignore the directives of Hamas not to take boxes of food from the GHF, and also to hold street demonstrations against the militant group.
At the same time, Israeli politicians such as the Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich – who Tuesday was sanctioned by the Government of Canada – Say the country is advancing with a new department To facilitate the “voluntary migration” of the Palestinians of Gaza.
A collection of western aid agencies accused Israel To use the GHF to deliberately elibrize the Palestinians out of their house in order to be closer to the aid distribution centers, where it will be easier to keep them away from Gaza permanently.
Unlike traditional humanitarian agencies that have operated in Gaza – which transports warehouse assistance and distributing food, fuel and medicines to communities through the territory – GHF Several days operated only two distribution points.
The Palestinians say that families have forced to do long dangerous hikes through dangerous war areas to get food.
Mohamed Salim told an independent CBC videographer in Gaza earlier this week that he had gone through the night from his home in Gaza City, then waited for hours to try to get boxes of provisions for his family – only to leave empty -handed.
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“We came here for nothing, except to make us shot and injured,” he said.
Another man, Mohamed Abdo, 25, says he needed to get food for 10 family members but only managed a few bags of beans, lentils and salt.
Riham Jafari, with the Action Aid Aid -based on women, described the limited efforts of the GHF as “media tour”.
“Israel and the United States want to tell the world that it will deliver food for people … But people die,” she said in its base in Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank.
Last Friday, during a quick visit to London, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, Anita Anand, did not answer a question directly to the GHF and her work, but seemed to recognize that the food situation in Gaza remains inadequate.
“More humanitarian aid, especially food, is to enter Gaza and Canada will continue to work with our allies to ensure that there is dignity and security for Israelis and Palestinians,” she said.
The Israeli government and the GHF both refute a vigorous accusation of what they intentionally limit food to the territory.
In a post on X, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel wrote: “Hundreds of trucks. Millions of meals. Every day. One of the largest humanitarian aid operations in the world currently affects the people of Gaza – activated by Israel.”
The position was accompanied by photos of people with food boxes, probably back to their families.
“The smiles do not lie. Hamas does it,” concluded the post.
In a statement to CBC News, the GHF also boasted of its successes in its first two weeks.
“To date, we have delivered more than 11 million meals to the inhabitants of Gaza. Before the start of our operations, there was no sure and reliable way for civilians to receive food,” he said.
“Our food is emptied – get food directly from those who need it most.”
The GHF resumed aid to Gaza at the end of May, after Israel raised its blockade of almost three months of the territory.
Various United Nations agencies which had previously coordinated the distribution of assistance in Gaza expressed a strong desire to resume their work, but the government of Israel refused.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed on several occasions Hamas flew or diverted large quantities of food aid, an affirmation which, according to international agencies, is overestimated.
And yet, the report of the crisis group indicates that less than a month ago, the UN presented a “complete” plan which responded to the security problems of Israel, with the cargo coded by QR; Sealed trucks and followed by GPS; UN monitors with each crossing and other precautions. Nearly 9,000 aid trucks were “ready to sit” in Egypt and Jordan, he said. Israel did not respond to the proposal.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Netanyahu office did not answer other questions, which the government’s press office said it had transmitted.
Which specifically provides money to pay for these GHF meals is not clear either. The declaration provided by the group said it would not disclose its funding.
The Israeli government says that it is not to foot on the invoices of the Foundation, although some Israeli media reports suggested the opposite.
The GHF is registered in Switzerland and in the American state of Delaware, although a BBC journalist tried to track down The staff behind the foundation could not make a lot of progress.
“No one standing money, partly because of political and moral problems, but I think they are probably also concerned about legal problems,” said Blecher.
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant For Netanyahu in November, accusing him of using famine as a method of war and deliberately targeting Palestinian civilians.
War objectives
The cease-fire talks involving Hamas and the Israeli negotiators could not end the conflict.
The militant group – which attacked the communities in the south of Israel on October 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 people – asked Israel to end its war in Gaza and to withdraw its forces from the territory.
Netanyahu says that the objectives of the War of Israel remain unchanged: overcome Hamas, bringing the other 25 living hostages from Gaza and ensuring that Gaza does not constitute a threat to Israel in the future.
However, even if the soldiers of Israel believe that his war objectives are getting closer, we do not know how long the GHF operations will be durable.
The report of the crisis group stresses that if, technically, the population of Gaza is probably not in a state of famine, most people remain seriously undernourished.
The report notes that the own soldiers of Israel set the threshold to avoid malnutrition at 2,200 calories per person per day – while the GHF promised to provide only 1,750.
In such a state, Blecher, the author of the report, says that the population of Gaza cannot survive indefinitely.
“Kill more than 50,000 people [in Gaza] In a war, this is something that has earned Israel a lot of enmity in the world, “he said.
“But by killing a multiple of this, if let’s say, an epidemic of cholera strikes, I think that means something very different for Israel to go ahead.”
