Reports suggest that Israel’s war cabinet is contemplating restricting the amount of aid reaching Gaza, as rightwing demonstrators disrupt the entry of trucks carrying much-needed humanitarian supplies to the besieged Palestinian territory.
Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, both former army chiefs of staff, have proposed temporarily limiting aid to weaken Hamas, Israel’s Channel 12 reported late on Wednesday.
The two centrist National Unity party politicians put the proposal forward in meetings this week, the station said, after receiving a report from Israel’s internal security service that estimated up to 66% of aid entering Gaza was being hijacked by the Palestinian militant group.
No final decision has been made on the issue, Channel 12 added. Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to the Guardian’s request for comment.
Qatari officials said on Thursday that Hamas had given “initial positive confirmation” to a proposed ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages, after US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators met Israeli intelligence officials in Paris.
Humanitarian groups including the UN estimate that 500 lorries carrying aid are required daily to provide the minimum help required to the people of Gaza, but the number able to cross through Egyptian and Israeli checkpoints is often below 100.
A week ago the international court of justice ruled that Israel must “take all measures within its power” to avoid a genocide in its war with Hamas, as well as to immediately “enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance” to address the devastating humanitarian crisis facing Gaza’s 2.3 million people.
About 27,000 people in Gaza have been killed and more than 85% of the population have been forced from their homes in the nearly four-month-old war sparked by Hamas’s attack on Israeli communities, in which 1,200…
2024-02-01 17:24:34
Original from www.theguardian.com