An uncharacteristically even-handed report on the BBC website What gets into the Gaza Strip reveals what those who cared to investigate knew anyway. Basically everything gets in except fruit juice and sweets, building materials and car parts and agricultural supplies. Previously pasta, lentils and paper were not allowed in since the conflict, but now they are. What is let in and out has varied over time. The Karni, Erez and Kerem Shalom crossings, for example, were closed on various occasions last year because Hamas attacked them in order deliberately to disrupt the flow of supplies so that they could then accuse Israel of cutting off the Gazan lifeline. Yet another example of how Hamas have cynically and cruelly exploited their own people for propaganda purposes, propaganda which the world and its press have usually swallowed whole.
What is clear is that even during the conflict humanitarian aid was getting through and since the end of the conflict enough passes through the border to ensure the necessities for life.
So why not building materials? The answer is that if these materials were let in, Hamas would do as they always do, that is, commandeer some of these materials to manufacture rockets and rocket launch pads. This policy appears harsh because it delays rebuilding. But why should Israel be an accomplice to the re-arming of those that would destroy it. Hamas still fire their rockets. If the rockets stopped and credible guarantees were given, then building materials could be allowed in.
In contrast to Gaza, in Zimbabwe food has virtually run out and cholera has killed 4,000 people. I don’t hear the world claiming that Mugabe is committing genocide against his own people. Israel is often accused of that crime which, were Hamas to be allowed free rein to import and build weaponry, including arms from Iran, they would surely embark on against Israel.
And if you still think that Israel wants to kill all Palestinians, here’s an interesting statistic for you that you won’t read on the BBC. Arutz Sheva reports that:
despite the continuing rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israel, more than 14,000 tons of aid and more than two million liters of fuel entered Gaza last week. Israel also accepted 1,563 patients from Gaza for medical care
Did you read that last bit? 1563 Gazans taken for treatment to hospitals within Israel. Yes, it is a tragedy that these people cannot receive treatment within Gaza where the BBC also reports on a deteriorating medical situation which it blames on both Israel’s policy of restricting movement and also the chaos caused by Hamas. The BBC couldn’t resist taking a pot at Israel because over 30 out of 60 pregnant women lost their baby whilst being held up at Israeli checkpoints. But it doesn’t occur to them that they would almost certainly have been heading for Israeli hospitals, probably because of complications.
Delays at checkpoints, delays in reconstruction, deteriorating medical situation – all placed at the door of the Israeli government, not the Hamas government whose continued policy pf aggression against Israel and its own genocidal programme against the Jewish people is barely mentioned and when it is, is excused or dismissed as ‘posturing’.
If there was an Israeli charter which explicitly stated the intention to kill all Palestinians and all Muslims we’d soon see how swiftly that was dismissed as ‘posturing’.