As Gaza is shaking, Israel seems to think its war targets are getting closer

Despite the enormous criticism from abroad, Israel seems to think its strategy in Gaza is slowly working, partly due to efforts from the mysterious New Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

It's been two weeks now, and the GHF has taken over the supply of humanitarian supplies to surrounded enclaves, but at an increasing cost.

More than 110 people have been killed in the aid allocation site in Gaza. Some of them appear to be shot by Israeli soldiers. Other people's gunman. There are also people who are killed in chaos, which are accompanied by hungry people’s rush to obtain limited supplies.

A new analysis by NGOs studying global conflict concluded that Israeli troops turned Gaza into a huge “hunger experiment” that is creating conditions for forced displacement of people by keeping people full enough to stay alive, but hunger is enough to resist Hamas.

“Israel uses food as a weapon of war,” report author Robert Blecher told CBC News.

“100% of Gaza faces life-threatening food insecurity,” he said. “There are the best practices [Israel] Maybe choose to follow, but they choose not to follow those. ”

Weak Hamas

In a recent statement, Israel's military said it believed its tactics weakened militant groups' control over the territory, a testament to the Palestinian willingness to ignore Hamas' directives against food boxes from the GHF and could also hold street demonstrations against militant groups.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and other Israeli politicians – Tuesday Approved by the Canadian government – Suppose the country is moving forward with a new sector to promote “voluntary immigration” of Palestinians from Gaza.

A series of Western aid agencies accuse Israel of deliberately driving Palestinians out of their homes using the GHF to get closer to the aid distribution center, where it would be easier to move them out of Gaza permanently.

Unlike traditional humanitarian institutions operating in Gaza, Gaza (which transports aid to warehouses and distributes food, fuel and medicine to communities throughout the territory), GHF has only two distribution points in many days.

Palestinians say this forces families to make long and dangerous treks through dangerous war zones to get food.

Mohamed Salim told him earlier this week that he walked through his home in Gaza for a night and then waited for hours trying to provide a box of supply boxes for his family – only empty-handed left.

“We got nothing but shot and injured,” he said.

Another 25-year-old Mohamed Abdo said he needed to buy food for 10 family members but managed only a few bags of beans, lentils and salt.

Riham Jafari calls GHF's ​​limited efforts “media skills” in a group action aid with women-centric groups.

“Israel and the United States want to tell the world that they are providing food for people … but people are dying,” she said from the occupied West Bank.

During a quick visit to London last Friday, Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand did not directly answer questions about the GHF and its work, but seemed to acknowledge that the food situation in Gaza remains insufficient.

“More humanitarian assistance, especially food, must enter Gaza and Canada and will continue to work with our allies to ensure that the Israelis and Palestinians have dignity and security,” she said.

Both the Israeli government and the GHF strongly refute any accusations that they deliberately restrict food to the territory.

“Hundreds of trucks. Millions of meals. Every day. Every day. One of the world's largest humanitarian aid operations is currently in the process of launching the Gaza people in Israel,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry wrote in an article on X.

The post was accompanied by photos of people carrying food boxes, probably back to their families.

“Don't lie with a smile. Hamas did,” the post concluded.

In a statement to CBC News, GHF also boasted about its success within two weeks of opening.

“To date, we have delivered over 11 million meals to the people of Gaza. There is no safe, reliable way to get food for civilians before our business begins,” it said.

“Our food is full of blank spaces – direct food to those who need it most.”

GHF took over aid from Gaza in late May after Israel lifted nearly three months of lockdown on the territory.

Various United Nations and private agencies that previously coordinated the allocation of aid in Gaza have expressed a strong willingness to resume their work, but the Israeli government refused.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly claimed that Hamas is stealing or transferring large amounts of food aid, a claim that international agencies have exaggerated.

However, the Crisis Panel report said less than a month ago, the United Nations proposed a “comprehensive” plan that addresses Israel's security issues, as well as QR-coded cargo. Sealed GPS tracking trucks; United Nations monitors every border crossing and other preventive measures. It said nearly 9,000 trucks were “ready to sit” in Egypt and Jordan. Israel did not respond to the proposal.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Netanyahu's office did not answer any further questions, the government's press office said it had been forwarded.

It is also unclear who is providing the money to pay for these GHF meals. The statement provided by the group said it would not disclose its funds.

The Israeli government said that despite some reports in Israeli media, it is not a proposal for the foundation’s bill.

GHF has registered in Switzerland and Delaware, USA, although BBC journalists who are trying to track down people behind the foundation cannot make much progress.

“No one wants to make money, partly because of political and moral issues, but I think they may also be focusing on legal issues,” Blecher said.

The International Criminal Court issued a warrant for Netanyahu in November, accusing him of using starvation as a method of war and deliberately targeting Palestinian civilians.

War Target

A ceasefire negotiation involving Hamas and Israeli negotiators cannot end the conflict.

Militant groups attacked communities in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 people – demanding that Israel end the war in Gaza and withdraw its troops from the territory.

Netanyahu said Israel's war goal remains the same: defeat Hamas, bring back the remaining 25 or so hostages in Gaza and ensure that Gaza does not pose a threat to Israel in the future.

Nevertheless, even if Israel's military believes its war goals are getting closer, it is not clear that the GHF's ​​actions will be sustainable.

The crisis team reported that although Gaza's population may not be technically famine-free, most people there remain undernourished.

The report notes that the threshold for Israel’s own military to avoid malnutrition is 2,200 calories per person per day, while the GHF promises to provide only 1,750.

Blecher, the author of the report, said Gaza's population cannot survive indefinitely.

“Killed more than 50,000 people [in Gaza] In the war, it was one thing that won a lot of Israel's hatred worldwide. ” he said.

“But killing many of them, if it’s the hit of the cholera epidemic, I think that means something that Israel is moving forward is very different.”