Written by Jesse Lempel In a surreal scene at the border between Israel and Gaza, a 440-pound lioness was hoisted by a crane on Monday and sent through the border into Israel.

The eight-year-old lioness was forced to leave her home in Gaza’s Rafah Zoo in order to receive urgent medical treatment in the Palestinian Authority city of Tulkarem in Samaria.

The rescue mission was jointly run by the Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) and the Hamas-run Ministry of Agriculture in Gaza. It was the latest in a string of Israeli-Hamas collaborations to rescue Gaza’s ailing lions.

Another lion was rescued from the Rafah Zoo last month, also passing through the Erez Crossing en route to Tulkarem, in a collaborative mission that COGAT dubbed “Operation Peace.” In the last year and a half, four other lions and two cubs have been evacuated from Gaza through Israel.

Many animals in Gaza zoos suffer from severe malnutrition and inadequate living conditions. Four Paws, an international aid organization devoted to animal welfare, has conducted several emergency missions to Gazan zoos — in Rafah, in Al Bisan, and in Khan Younis.

“There are now only 21 animals left in Al Bisan Zoo in northern Gaza,” the group’s website reported in February. “The others have died due to starvation.”

Samuel Saias contributed to this report.

Once again, Gaza’s ruling Hamas terror group is making sure its population will be unable to rebuild their homes and infrastructure.

After all, rebuilding its military infrastructure is much more important, right? Even when it means stealing from your own people.

Only this time, Hamas has been caught red-handed with its hand in the honey pot.

Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) monitors the flow of building supplies – among other goods – into Gaza.

In particular, COGAT tracks the flow of cement deliveries into Gaza to make sure Hamas is not using it to build terror tunnels to attack Israel.

Last Friday, the COGAT Arabic Facebook page carried a notice that cement deliveries into the region were being suspended.

Some of the deliveries had been “diverted” by Hamas Economic Office deputy director-general Imad Elbaz.

When deliveries don’t reach their proper destination, one has to ask where they’re going instead. But in any case, diversion of supplies intended for reconstruction of residential units and infrastructure is unacceptable.

“This is a blatant violation of agreements on the rehabilitation mechanism,” the Facebook statement said, adding that COGAT head Maj.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai suspended the deliveries until an investigation into the matter is completed.

The statement said COGAT regretted that Hamas “continues to pursue its own agenda at the expense of the residents of Gaza.”

Unlike other individuals who have served in the position in past years, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nicolay Mladenov immediately responded with a statement noting the theft and its impact.

“Those who seek to gain through the deviation of materials are stealing from their own people and adding to the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza,” Mladenov said. “The reconstruction of Gaza remains critical to ensuring its stability and I urge a rapid resolution of this matter.”

He added that according to Israeli records, “a substantial amount [of cement bound for the private sector] had been diverted from its intended legitimate beneficiaries.

“The people of Gaza depend on the entry of construction material to repair and reconstruct their damaged and destroyed houses following the 2014 conflict and to enable much needed infrastructure and development projects,” Mladenov added.

He noted the United Nations was working with both Israel and the Palestinian Authority to resolve the issue.

This past January, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon responded to statements by the Hamas leadership announcing its intention to continue building tunnels and firing rockets at Israel.

Ban warned that such remarks and actions do a “serious disservice” to Gaza’s long-suffering people and “put at risk reconstruction, humanitarian and development efforts by the international community and Palestinian and Israeli authorities.”

Clearly Hamas has not taken Ban’s advice to heart, however.

A long terrorist tunnel was discovered last month beneath the Gaza border leading from the southern town of Rafah, directly into an apartment building in Egypt.

In addition to its conflict with Israel, Hamas has also been providing technical, medical and material support to Da’esh (ISIS) terrorists in the Sinai Peninsula.

The group is comprised of former members of Ansar Beyt al-Maqdis. They are aligned with Egypt’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood which is locked in an all-out war against the Cairo government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, 20,064 tons of goods in 611 trucks entered Gaza from Israel via the Kerem Shalom land crossing. There were 1,608 crossings by foreign nationals, local merchants and others in and out of the region via the Erez Crossing with Israel, in addition to seven ambulances who also entered and left Gaza.

In many ways this area operates more like a standard foreign border crossing than it does the “blockade” that far-left agitators and anti-Israel detractors keep bleating about.

The SodaStream plant in Lehavim was forced to lay off the remaining 74 Arab workers Monday who had transferred with the company in October from the Palestinian Authority.

SodaStream produces a small machine for homemakers to create their own fizzy drinks.

There was no choice. SodaStream had been forced to move from its site on the “other” side of the 1949 Armistice Line due to pressure from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement ending the jobs of 500 PA workers.

A boycott of Israeli products in PA-controlled territories had proved effective, persuading SodaStream there was no point in remaining in the area.

The BDS coordinator in the PA capital city of Ramallah – Mahmoud Nawaja’a – called the loss of the jobs at SodaStream “part of the price that should be paid in the process of ending the occupation.” But then, Nawaja’a was not one of those who lost his livelihood.

Last year’s European Union labeling requirements forcing Israeli companies to indicate whether their products were made in areas outside of pre-1967 Israel only aided and abetted the BDS boycotts.

The welcome move by the British government last month to ban the public sector boycotts of Israeli suppliers came too late for SodaStream’s PA Arab workers.

In addition, after the start of the terror wave, Israel cut off work permits because many of the murderous terrorists attacking innocent civilians were found to be PA residents with work permits and no criminal records.

That was the employment death knell for the PA workers who had been able to move with the company to its new location in Lehavim.

“There is no hope in Palestine,” Anas Abdul Wadud Ghayth told Voice of America. Ghayth is one of the Arab workers from the Palestinian Authority. “There is little work; we can’t be happy there like we were happy here.”

The company said it would fight to get the work permits back for its PA Arab employees.

“If the government of Israel does not allow the Palestinians to get to their jobs, I will bring those jobs to the Palestinians. That is not a threat. It is a fact,” said Daniel Birnbaum, SodaStream’s CEO.

According to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), 58,000 Palestinian Authority residents still hold permits to work in Israel. Another 27,000 are working for Israeli businesses in Jewish communities and industrial zones in Judea and Samaria.

IDF Maj.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai has ordered a freeze on all work and trade permits for extended families of the Damascus Gate terrorists who attacked three Border Guard Policewomen on Wednesday.

Mordechai, who is Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), ordered the freeze on Thursday.

It is the first time the sanctions have been implemented against the extended families of terrorists.

The defense establishment first made the decision to freeze permits of the extended families at a security cabinet meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu several months ago when the current terror wave first began to escalate.

Families of Arab terrorists were warned last November they would lose their permits to work in pre-1967 Israel if they knew that someone in their midst was extreme, or liable to carry out an attack, and did not do something to prevent that from happening.

That measure was implemented following the stabbing death of 21-year-old Hadar Buchris, z’l at the Gush Etzion junction.

Gaza’s ruling Hamas terrorist organization is exploiting Israel’s policy of allowing Arabs from the Palestinian Authority to enter Israel from Gaza, IDF Maj.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai warns.

Mordechai, who is Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), said in a statement Tuesday, “Hamas is exploiting entries into Israel to recruit terrorists. This must end or we will be forced to revise our policies.”

The COGAT told the Al Quds newspaper, “Unless these actions end, we will be forced to take additional security measures.

“Our policies are devised to strengthen the economy and civil life in the Gaza Strip,” he said.

The crossings between Gaza and Israel saw an daily average of 1,000 human passages between the two sides at the Erez Crossing in 2015. In addition, 850 trucks filled with medical supplies , construction materials and other goods were delivered daily to Gaza last year.

“If these policies are misused by terrorists, we will be forced to revise them to maintain the security of the State of Israel and her citizens,” Mordechai warned.

The single land crossing from Gaza into Egypt, the Rafah Border Crossing is open only sporadically, and then only for a few hours or a few days at a time, with little prior warning.

There are three land crossings with Israel, including the Karni crossing, a conveyor belt for grains and similar goods.

The Erez crossing, used by international staff members, residents of the Palestinian Authority, (professional and non-professional employees, medical patients and family members) foreign aid workers, journalists, diplomats and others, is open from Sunday through Thursday, 8am to 4pm and Friday from 8am to 2pm. The Kerem Shalom crossing is open daily between morning and afternoon, depending on the number of trucks scheduled to make deliveries in Gaza.

Israel this week blocked smugglers from attempting to “import” bullet-proof plates into southern Gaza via the Kerem Shalom Crossing.

The Israel Police and Shin Bet / Shabak (Israel Security Agency) have opened an investigation into the incident. It is not yet clear who was behind the “import,” although the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Customs Authority, and the Border Crossing Authority have also opened a probe into the smuggling attempt.

The plates were discovered Tuesday when employees of the Border Crossing Authority became suspicious at the sight of an Israeli truck carrying spare automobile parts for Gaza.

The Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories reported last week 3,750 trucks with 127,623 tons of goods entered Gaza through Israel via the Kerem Shalom crossing.

“There were 35 crossings of ambulances between Gaza and Israel last week,” according to a tweet by the COGAT.

Last Thursday alone, 24,629 tons of goods in 744 trucks were delivered to Gaza through Israel via the overland crossings. In addition, 2.2 million liters of fuel were delivered as well.

Delivery statistics at Kerem Shalom Crossing Dec. 20-24 2015

Can Turkey Justify Its Continued Diplomatic Freeze?

Turkey has used the so-called Israeli “blockade” of Gaza as its excuse for refusing to normalize its diplomatic ties with Israel. But the truth is, the crossings between Israel and Gaza are open every day and for a long time now, active commerce has been taking place.

What is not being allowed to enter the region are materials that can be used to manufacture weapons with which to attack the Jewish State – and which have been used for that purpose in the past.

In this regard Turkey is no different in its own methods of self-defense and controlling terror within its borders. In fact the Ankara government is more aggressive: Turkey has no problem attacking PKK terrorists when it perceives a threat.

For Ankara to suggest it has a right to dictate a domestic security policy to another sovereign nation is pretentious, if not outright chutzpah.

Since Israel has already opened the crossings on a daily basis – which by the way, even Egypt does not do with the lone Rafah crossing on its border – Turkey has no reason to complain. But Israel does: Hamas still operates its terrorist organization freely and maintains an active international office within Turkey’s borders, despite a request from Israel to close its doors.

Perhaps Turkey is simply searching for excuses not to formally renew its ties with the Jewish State? There would certainly be many reasons it might be reluctant to do so, beginning and ending with its oily handshake in Tehran. At least the Arab nations in the region are far more honest in their anti-Semitism…