In mid-December, Israeli government and hasbara accounts began posting links to a new website from the IDF’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), “Operation Swords of Iron: Humanitarian Efforts“. The website offers updates about the humanitarian aid that Israel gives permission to enter Gaza after an intentional, complicated ‘inspection’ process.
Today’s update says 198 trucks passed through on January 7th:
This is a high. Previous days were far less than this almost 200 aid trucks, 40 percent of the 500-a-day figure before 70 percent of the homes in Gaza were destroyed and two million people were displaced.
The Math
On January 2nd, the Israel Foreign Ministry posted an update from its “Swords of Iron: Humanitarian Efforts” website about how many aid trucks Israel has allowed to enter Gaza:
That’s an average of 76 aid trucks entering Gaza a day since October 7th.
500 aid trucks used to cross the border each day, before an UN-estimated 70 percent of homes in Gaza were destroyed and before two million people were displaced (PCBS, 8 January 2024).
“Starvation of Civilians as a Method of Warfare“
Israel’s fight is very much with the people of Gaza. Its leaders have made that crystal clear. On December 18th, Human Rights Watch reported:
The Israeli government is using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in the occupied Gaza Strip, which is a war crime, Human Rights Watch said today. Israeli forces are deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food, and fuel, while willfully impeding humanitarian assistance, apparently razing agricultural areas, and depriving the civilian population of objects indispensable to their survival.
Since Hamas-led fighters attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, high-ranking Israeli officials, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and Energy Minister Israel Katz have made public statements expressing their aim to deprive civilians in Gaza of food, water and fuel – statements reflecting a policy being carried out by Israeli forces. Other Israeli officials have publicly stated that humanitarian aid to Gaza would be conditioned either on the release of hostages unlawfully held by Hamas or Hamas’ destruction.
“For over two months, Israel has been depriving Gaza’s population of food and water, a policy spurred on or endorsed by high-ranking Israeli officials and reflecting an intent to starve civilians as a method of warfare,” said Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch. “World leaders should be speaking out against this abhorrent war crime, which has devastating effects on Gaza’s population.”
Source: https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/12/18/israel-starvation-used-weapon-war-gaza
Israel has been getting pushback from people doing the obvious math about how few aid trucks are passing through, and is responding with more propaganda. This January 7th tweet (the live, embedded tweet appears below this screenshot) claims 7,000 aid trucks have passed through the Egypt-Gaza border that Israel controls since October 7th.
This was posted yesterday, 7 January 2023. 7,000 aid trucks in 92 days is 76 aid trucks per day.
That was before a UN-estimated 70 percent of homes in Gaza were destroyed by Israeli rocketing and bombing and before there were two million displaced people (or 87% of Gaza’s population), 500 trucks a day used to enter Gaza.
The current trickle is just 15.2% of the previous rate of flow.
COGAT’s Fig Leaf
COGAT’s “Swords of Iron: Humanitarian Efforts” website has a banner that testifies against its own claims. In the 32 second video, one truck moves one truck length (look at the white lines) and you KNOW that they had to hunt hard for footage of anything moving if an average of only 76 have passed each day.
Even if Israel were to fully open the border…
Even if Israel were to fully open the border and cease all checks on the aid trucks, it would still be insufficient to prevent the coming catastrophe of famine. Today, the UN has said that one in four Gazans are currently starving. This will only get worse. Rescuing people from the edge of starvation requires food. Rescuing people from starvation requires food and considerable medical care, also unavailable in Gaza.
Israel worships at the temples of Calculation and knew this very well, which is why the COGAT “Swords of Iron: Humanitarian Efforts” website was created before the famine hit the media, and why Israel is currently getting more nervous and strident with its baseless claim that “Israel does not limit the amount of humanitarian aid that can enter Gaza.”
How Israel Limits the Amount of Humanitarian Aid to Gaza
Yes it does limit the amount of humanitarian aid that can enter Gaza, and yes it continues to do so with an intentional, complicated process outlined in this graphic from James Rosen-Birch posted on Twitter:
500 aid trucks a day used to pass before there were two million people homeless. Now Israel trickles 76 aid trucks a day, has destroyed many of the roads they need, and fires missiles at them. Here is the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, explaining the difficulties:
This is genocide by starvation. The Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Article II(c) describes, as one of the crimes of Genocide, “Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”
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