The Hamas terrorist organization has managed to hoodwink US President Joe Biden into believing that Israel is to blame for the hunger of civilians in Gaza, The Wall Street Journal warned Sunday in an editorial that advocated for allowing Gaza refugees to escape the war zone into Egypt.
Some Gazans — not all, but some — are truly hungry. A tragic stampede by civilians trying to access humanitarian aid before Hamas operatives could hijack the supplies last Thursday resulted in at least 100 deaths. The vast majority died in the stampede; IDF soldiers who were stationed in a tank nearby were ordered to fire warning shots first in the air, and then at the legs of the oncoming mob when raging Gazans began to storm the Israeli forces as well.
Guess who got blamed?
Now the United States, Jordan, France and others are airdropping supplies. The Wall Street Journal gets it: “The airdrop is unexceptional but the onus on Israel isn’t,” the WSJ editorial board writes. “It plays into Hamas’s strategy: Place civilians in maximum danger and trust the international community to set up Israel to take the blame.”
#Gaza channels identified by #Fatah: A resident of Gaza recorded Abu Ahmed, a senior member of the internal security apparatus of #Hamas, loading boxes of food into his car from an aid warehouse intended for residents. pic.twitter.com/IRgFms8DoY
— AbuAliEnglish (@AbuAliEnglishB1) March 2, 2024
On Friday, Biden told reporters, “We’re going to insist that Israel facilitate more trucks and more routes to get more and more people the help they need. No excuses,” he said.
It’s getting more and more difficult to convince truck drivers to risk their lives delivering humanitarian aid into the enclave.
#Gazans throw stones at aid trucks that entered the Gaza Strip through the #Rafah crossing in order to stop them and take the goods. pic.twitter.com/Q4Cam5U1yu
— AbuAliEnglish (@AbuAliEnglishB1) March 2, 2024
Truck drivers from Egypt who are delivering the aid are warning each other to avoid the task if at all possible. At least one was killed and numerous trucks have been damaged by Gaza civilians — or Hamas operatives, or both — who attack the trucks and their drivers.
#Gaza Strip: Gaza residents loot an aid truck after hitting the driver of the truck and as a result the truck slid to the side of the road.
According to Palestinian sources, the driver was killed by a stone hitting his head. pic.twitter.com/O38u4oRXrx— AbuAliEnglish (@AbuAliEnglishB1) March 3, 2024
So what’s the solution?
Well, any Gazan will point to the Rafah Crossing with Egypt and explain that the quickest and easiest way to reach safety is through that gate. But Egypt is blocking their escape with the full support of the international community.
Only Gazans are forced to remain in a war zone risking their lives in violation of international law, WSJ points out. Syrians who fled slaughter by their own President Bashar Assad were welcomed for the most part with open arms in Europe, as were the millions of other refugees from various lands.
Not Gazans.
“Rather than demand that Egypt follow its obligation under international law to accept refugees from the fighting next door, the US, United Nations and aid organizations took up Egypt’s position and admonished Israel not to “displace” civilians from Gaza. “No forcible displacement” become Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s mantra, when in reality Palestinians aren’t allowed to leave voluntarily. Only when it can damage Israel does it become the liberal position to close the borders and keep refugees penned in a war zone.
“The US gives Egypt $1.3 billion in aid a year. Mr. Biden has leverage but chose not to use it. So instead of civilians fleeing the fighting, receiving aid in freer conditions and then returning after the war, they have been kept in Gaza to serve as “Israel’s problem.
“Rather than get Gazans to safety, the world’s humanitarian organs at every stage of the war have demanded that Israel cease fire, leaving Hamas in power with hostages in tow.”
Despite the obstacles, Israeli forces have managed to eliminate most of the Hamas battalions entrenched within Gaza. Now they are facing a final push to neutralize the terror group’s last four battalions, and hopefully the Hamas leadership as well, while rescuing the remaining hostages still held by the terrorists.
But the battalions are holed up in Rafah, preparing to use more than a million civilians who are trapped there as their human shields when Israeli forces arrive.
If the US, the UN and the rest of the international community really cared about the lives of Gaza civilians, they would be pressuring Egypt to open the gates. If the Arab world cared about their brethren, no pressure would even be needed; Egypt would have opened the gates long ago.
See a pattern?
