{"id":262716,"date":"2024-05-20T12:00:52","date_gmt":"2024-05-20T11:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=262716"},"modified":"2024-07-02T08:49:21","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T07:49:21","slug":"the-us-state-department-says-israel-isnt-blocking-aid-videos-show-the-opposite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/05\/the-us-state-department-says-israel-isnt-blocking-aid-videos-show-the-opposite\/","title":{"rendered":"The US State Department Says Israel Isn\u2019t Blocking Aid–Videos Show the Opposite"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Protesters sit in front of trucks during a demonstration to prevent humanitarian aid being sent to Gaza near the port in Ashdod, Israel, on 1 Feb 2024. Photo: Mostafa Alkharouf\/Anadolu via Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n

From targeting humanitarian vehicles to standing by as mobs attack trucks, Israel is blocking aid from reaching Gaza. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

18 May 2024 <\/em>– On Monday [13 May], a<\/span> mob of Israeli settlers attacked aid trucks carrying food supplies to Gaza. The extremists pillaged the cargo, destroying and smashing supplies desperately needed more than half a year into Israel\u2019s assault on the besieged enclave. Israel\u2019s police and military traded blame, each saying the other should have prevented it, but a senior security official told Haaretz<\/a> that the rioters received \u201cinside information about the trucks\u2019 movement\u201d from officers.<\/p>\n

The incident is emblematic of a pattern that has played out repeatedly for months. Israelis, either vigilante extremists or state officials, block or outright attack humanitarian aid; the United States offers a milquetoast response or extends further favor to Israel; the violence continues and even ramps up. There is ample evidence of the Israeli government looking the other way as these attacks and obstructions on aid delivery play out. None of it is secret \u2014 much of it has been documented on camera and spread through social media.<\/p>\n

Yet, the State Department, in a long-awaited report<\/a> on whether Israel was complying with international humanitarian law as it used American weapons, concluded last week that Israel is not blocking aid. The State Department said that it had \u201cdeep concerns\u201d about \u201caction and inaction\u201d by the Israeli government resulting in aid delivery to Gaza that \u201cremains insufficient,\u201d but concluded there was not enough evidence to justify cutting off assistance to Israel\u2019s military.<\/p>\n

Allison McManus, managing director of the national security and international policy department at the Center for American Progress, said the State Department\u2019s findings are undercut by \u201cthe very obvious fact\u201d of indiscriminate attacks on aid workers and civilians in Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is something that everybody can see with their own eyes. The killing of aid workers, the targeting of hospitals, the total destruction of the healthcare system, the massive number of civilian casualties, many of whom are women and children,\u201d McManus said. \u201cThat does not happen in a context in which the prosecuting army is adhering to international law.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Israeli
Israeli right-wing activists look at damaged trailer trucks that were carrying humanitarian aid supplies on the Israeli side of the Tarqumiyah crossing with the occupied West Bank on May 13, 2024, after they were vandalized by other activists to protest aid being sent to the Gaza Strip.<\/span> AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Monday\u2019s rampage was<\/span> just one of multiple assaults on the aid sector in the days after the State Department issued its findings. That same day, Israeli forces attacked a clearly marked United Nations vehicle in Rafah \u2014 killing an Indian national staff member in the process. The targeting of the car raised fears around possible evacuation efforts for upward of 20 American doctors and medical workers stranded in Gaza<\/a>. The killing did not deter President Joe Biden from moving Tuesday to send another $1 billion in weapons to Israel.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, in the occupied West Bank, settlers attacked<\/a> a Palestinian truck driver because they thought he was driving an aid truck going to Gaza. Footage shows the victim writhing in pain as Israel Defense Forces officers roam the scene. Israeli police did not arrest any suspects, according<\/a> to Haaretz.<\/p>\n

The settlers<\/a> deflated the tires of two trucks \u2014 which were running commercial routes rather than delivering aid \u2014 and set them on fire.<\/p>\n

A video posted to Twitter by Alon-Lee Green, co-director of pro-peace organization Standing Together, showed people climbing onto a pillaged truck and dancing.<\/p>\n

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\u05d0\u05ea\u05de\u05d5\u05dc \u05d1\u05d2\u05d1\u05e2\u05ea \u05d0\u05e1\u05e3. pic.twitter.com\/bwkmH8xi3L<\/a><\/p>\n

— Alon-Lee Green – \u0623\u0644\u0648\u0646-\u0644\u064a \u062c\u0631\u064a\u0646 – \u05d0\u05dc\u05d5\u05df-\u05dc\u05d9 \u05d2\u05e8\u05d9\u05df \ud83d\udfe3 (@AlonLeeGreen) May 16, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n