Gaza, Israel blocks aid again in the Strip: 20 dead in bombings, victims waiting at distribution centers
The war in the Middle East
According to Channel 12, extremist minister Bezalel Smotrich had threatened to resign from the government. The halt until the army presents a plan to prevent Hamas from seizing aid
Israel has once again suspended aid deliveries to Gaza , Israeli television Channel 12 reported, quoting an Israeli official. The news comes as Al Jazeera reports that three more people were killed while waiting near aid distribution points. Nine more people were killed in a bombing that hit a school housing displaced people in the Sheikh Rawdan neighborhood of Gaza City. At least twenty Palestinians were killed in attacks on the Strip this morning.
The news of the suspension came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's office announced that the prime minister had ordered the army to submit a plan within two days to prevent Hamas from diverting humanitarian aid. The suspension of deliveries is expected to remain in effect until the IDF submits its plan. The official who spoke to Channel 12 about the aid halt added that the prime minister's statement came after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to resign from the government if immediate measures were not taken to prevent aid from reaching Hamas.
Smotrich is the leader of the Religious Zionist Party . Last May he declared that Gaza would be “completely destroyed” and that civilians would be transferred to other countries. He had declared in the past that he would not allow “even a grain of wheat” to pass through the Strip. Together with the other extremist minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir , for national security, he had been sanctioned by the United Kingdom government precisely for their positions on Gaza. Smotrich is among the most active exponents in the control and expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank .
Three more people were killed in the town of Kafr Malek , northeast of Ramallah, in the West Bank. Dozens of Israeli settlers attacked, as often happens in the territory that the international community considers to belong to the Palestinians but is illegally occupied. Houses and cars were set on fire, stones were thrown. The army opened fire. The Red Crescent said it had rescued seven people who were injured, some seriously. Five settlers were arrested. Only a few days ago, Ammar Hamayel, 13, was killed in the same Kafr Malek, and Rayan Tamer Houshieh, 15, in an attack in al-Yamoun.
The UN, through its spokesperson, reiterated that the attacks “continue to have a devastating impact on civilians, causing dozens of deaths and injuries, many of whom were simply seeking humanitarian aid” and that “the rapid depletion of remaining fuel stocks is jeopardizing efforts to maintain vital services in Gaza. The UN Population Fund has said that 80 percent of intensive care units, including those used for births, are at risk of closure, even as 130 women give birth in Gaza every day”.
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