On Wednesday, a group of Tzav 9 (order 9) protesters tried to block the entry of humanitarian aid from Jordan through Allenby Bridge, and later through the Erez Crossing, which had just reopened. The tweet below shows similar action by the same group, on April 25.
לאחר שעתיים של מרדף: משאיות הסיוע לחמאס חסומות כעת
בני משפחות חטופים ופעילי תנועת צו 9 עקבו בשעתיים האחרונות אחרי תנועת משאיות הסיוע לחמאס, וכעת הם חוסמים אותן לתנועה בצומת תל ערד.
מתנועת צו 9 נמסר: “היום כבר ברור לכולם שרק עצירת הסיוע לחמאס תמנע ממנו לשלוט ברצועה ותקרב את השבת… pic.twitter.com/HkmKv3JnG6
— ידידיה אפשטיין (@yedidya_epstien) April 24, 2024
It so happened that the very first humanitarian aid convoy that made it through the Erez Crossing on Wednesday was taken over by Hamas terrorists.
Maariv interviewed several angry residents of the Gaza envelope communities regarding the opening of a second crossing to Gaza. Yael Ram Matzpun from the Moshav Sdei Avraham said she was troubled by the implications of this move, “Specifically, the matter of opening the Erez crossing, beyond the symbolism, has nothing real about it. The goods are moving at a rate that is only increasing. There is no link between what these scoundrels should do, which is to return our hostages, and the fact that they receive assistance.”
Yael added: “No one is innocent, we know there are links and conditions imposed by the world and the United States, but our frustration is crazy.”
Amit Sade, a resident of Ein Habsor, was outraged: “As a resident of the Gaza envelope, I am shocked and filled with anger every day at what happens every day, the transfer of aid to Hamas, which is an enemy of the State of Israel, while we are at war.” He claimed that “it is a serious offense on the law books to aid the enemy in time of war. Even on a principled level, it is an absolute absurdity that the hostages languish in prison and await their release, and meanwhile, the State of Israel gives aid as a gift to Hamas without any compensation, so that it can continue its horrific acts, and it even opens a new passage, from which the Nakhba terrorists entered on October 7, to increase aid to the enemy.”
The Americans registered their frustration with Israel over the interruptions of the flow of aid to Gaza by the Tzav 9 folks, and then, on Wednesday, this happened:
State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller was asked by a reporter, “Can you say anything about how the distribution of that aid after the aid shipment that was attacked by settlers, how the distribution went once inside Gaza?”
עזה: מחבלי חמאס יורים על עזתים שמתקרבים למשאיות הסיוע ההומניטרי.pic.twitter.com/1vwQS7kZic
— ינשופי העיר וינשופי הכפר #JusticeForMalkiRoth (@ctvill_owls) May 2, 2024
Miller responded: “I think you’re referring to these reports and the statement that Hamas put out about the diversion of that aid. So those aid convoys came from Jordan into Erez crossing, which was just opened – something that the President insisted on in his April 4 phone call with Prime Minister Netanyahu. Yesterday was the first major shipment of aid from Jordan over this new land route through the Erez crossing. The convoys from the Jordan military that brought the aid in unloaded the aid inside Gaza.
“It was then picked up by a humanitarian implementer for distribution inside Gaza, and that aid was intercepted and diverted by Hamas on the ground in Gaza.
“And ultimately, the UN is either in the process or has by now recovered that aid, but it was an unacceptable act by Hamas to divert this aid, to begin with, to seize this aid. We have made clear that it’s an unacceptable act. I think the UN partners will be also making clear that it’s an unacceptable act. If there is one thing that Hamas could do to jeopardize the shipment of aid, it would be diverting it for their own use rather than allowing it to go to the innocent civilians that need it, so they certainly should refrain from doing that in the future.”
QUESTION: Has this been a widespread issue, Matt?
MILLER: No, it has not. This is the first widespread case of diversion that we have seen. Hamas had diverted these trucks for some time after – not the original, just to be clear, because that could be misleading. The original trucks came in, and unloaded the aid; they were then picked up on different trucks for distribution inside Gaza. They did divert those trucks; they were held for some time.”
QUESTION: But in terms of the number of occurrences that Hamas has diverted aid, how many times would you say this has happened?
MILLER: There may have been minor ones in the past. This is the first major diversion of aid. And it ultimately has now been returned to the humanitarian implementer, so it will get where it needed to go. But that doesn’t change the fact that it was an unacceptable act.
QUESTION: And what happened to the team that was with the aid at the time?
MR MILLER: I can’t speak to that. I don’t have the details.
It’s funny that after months of videos coming out of Gaza showing Hamas robbing everything that moves on eight wheels or more, the State Dept. spokesman is only aware of this one major robbery.
I say, buy Matthew Miller a Twitter account.
And no, I’m not calling it “X.” Not before Elon Musk buys me a Tesla.
