President Biden spoke by telephone to Prime Minister Netanyahu on October 29. He mentioned the need to “increase humanitarian aid,” apparently unaware that Israel had been doing just that, but that Hamas’ hoarding of fuel has prevented desalination plants from operating, and this had, caused a shortage of water. Meanwhile, Israel has just doubled its supply of water sent to Gaza — now amounting to some 49 million liters a day. And that amount would be even higher had Hamas not destroyed one of the three water pipelines from Israel to Gaza. More on that Biden request for Israel to increase its “humanitarian aid” can be found here: “In call with Netanyahu, Biden urges major boost in flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza,” by Jacob Magid, Times of Israel, October 29, 2023:
Israel says Hamas is diverting fuel from civilian use and has refused to allow additional supplies since the war broke out. The United Nations warned earlier Sunday that “civil order” was starting to collapse in Gaza after thousands of people ransacked its food warehouses in the war-torn Hamas-run enclave.
US President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call Sunday that the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza needs to “immediately and significantly increase,” the White House said.
Israel over the weekend reopened the second of three water pipelines that provide water to the Gaza Strip, but 90% of the water flow in Gaza is self-sourced and goes through desalination plants that have been unable to run due to lack of fuel.
“The issue came up during Biden’s call with Netanyahu about the latest developments in the Gaza war, and the president “underscored the need to immediately and significantly increase the flow of humanitarian assistance to meet the needs of civilians in Gaza,” according to the US readout.
The number of trucks with humanitarian aid that enter Gaza through the Rafah Crossing already has gone from none to 20 each day, and now to more than 100. Furthermore, the Israelis have announced that in a few days there will be a “dramatic increase” in humanitarian aid. Already two of the three pipelines bringing water from Israel to Gaza have reopened, and 49 million liters of water flow into Gaza every day.The third pipeline was smashed by Hamas, and it is impossible, under wartime conditions, for Israel to fix it. But in any case, Israel only supplied 9% of water before the war. The other 91% came from the Coastal Aquifer and the Mediterranean sea. The water from both sources is too saline to be potable, but the desalination and water treatment plants in Gaza cannot now operate because Hamas — not Israel — is holding onto the fuel in Gaza; just one of its storage facilities holds 500,000 liters of diesel fuel, which Hamas refuses to share with the desalination plants. It is Hamas that, by withholding fuel and preventing those plants from operating, is responsible for the decrease in potable water available to Gazans. Does Joe Biden know that?
As to food, there is no “crisis” in Gaza. Food aid has now been getting through, at ten times the rate of just a week ago, though some n Gaza, afraid that Hamas will take all the food and medicine being shipped in for its own operatives before it can be distributed, have stolen food right off the aid trucks as they arrive inside Gaza. Food — both agricultural products and livestock — are still being produced in Gaza, though Western news reports never mention this.
The rest of the readout [of Biden’s phone call with Netanyahu] regurgitated previous White House talking points on the war. Biden “reiterated that Israel has every right and responsibility to defend its citizens from terrorism and underscored the need to do so in a manner consistent with international humanitarian law that prioritizes the protection of civilians.”…
Israel says its offensive is aimed at destroying Hamas’s military and governance capabilities, and has vowed to eliminate the entire terror group, while stressing that it is adhering to international law and seeking to minimize civilian casualties.
“There have been deaths of thousands of Palestinian civilians in this conflict and that is an absolute tragedy,” US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in an interview with CNN on Sunday, becoming the first US official to give a general figure of civilian deaths in Gaza since the start of the war on October 7.
And who is to blame for those civilian deaths? It isn’t Israel, that does everything it can to warn civilians away from targeted sites, by messaging, telephoning, leafletting, and the “knock-on-the-roof” technique, and even advises them, by massive leafletting, as to where Gazans should go in the south, the “safe zones” where they will not be attacked.
bagsgroove says
Can the muslims even read ?
࿗Infidel࿘ says
I’m pretty sure they message them in Arabic, not Hebrew, Russian or English
Lisel Sipes says
Biden must be getting 10%. They should be sending nukes to Gaza, not aid.