As limited aid trickles into Gaza, Israel’s strategy of ‘engineering chaos’ by shooting at aid-seekers and permitting looters to steal aid ensures that food doesn’t get to starving Palestinians.
The Israeli government’s closure of six UNRWA schools in Jerusalem has left over 800 Palestinian students without school, and has thrown an entire community into limbo. Residents say it’s all part of a larger attack on Palestinian refugees.
Gaza cannot survive without UNRWA and the life-saving services it provides. That is why Israel’s attack on the UN agency is an attack on Palestinian existence.
Israel’s ban on UNRWA would leave hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees without education, jobs, or essential services. But the real reason it is going after the UN agency lies in Israel’s political and territorial ambitions.
The U.S. and 16 other countries urged Hamas and Israel to “make concessions” to secure a ceasefire deal. Meanwhile, Israel killed 40 people in a bombing of an UNRWA school in the central Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu has vowed to invade Rafah despite the international red line. Meanwhile, the U.S. has sanctioned two illegal settler outposts in the West Bank for the first time.
UNRWA’s chief says dismantling the agency is “short-sighted” and will “sow the seeds of hatred, resentment, and future conflict.” Israeli forces fire at Palestinians seeking aid and food in Gaza City and detain others in southern Gaza.
UNRWA says that the famine in northern Gaza can be avoided if more food convoys are allowed in, but Israel continues to hold up over 2000 aid trucks. Meanwhile, Netanyahu reaffirms plans to invade Rafah, where 1.5 million Gazans have sought shelter.
Euro-Med publishes new testimonies of Palestinian detainees subjected to dog attacks, forced nudity, and sexual harassment in Israeli jails, as Israeli soldiers continue posting images and videos of themselves committing atrocities in Gaza.
Secretary Blinken admits that the U.S. has been unable to investigate the “evidence” presented by Israel claiming 13 of UNRWA’s 13,000 Gaza employees participated in October 7. Biden took Israel’s word for it anyway.