Gaza civilians showed up to receive their food boxes Wednesday for the second day of the new US-run humanitarian aid distribution program.
The aid distribution centers, run by the newly formed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, are being secured by the IDF from outside the facilities. Of the four centers planned for Gaza, two are operating – one in Rafah and the other in the Netzarim Corridor near the southern section of Gaza City.
Hamas has tried very hard to disrupt the operations and prevent Gazans from reaching the distribution centers – but so far, they have failed.
Approximately 8,000 food boxes were distributed on Tuesday, the first day of the new program. Each box feeds 5.5 people for three and a half days, totaling 462,000 meals.
Hamas set up checkpoints on the road to the facility to prevent Gazans from reaching the site, and a huge mob stormed one of the centers towards the end of the day.
According to the IDF, the Americans working at the center “pulled back” and allowed those who broke in to take food packages and leave. Israeli forces fired in the air to dissuade others from doing the same, and security was restored to the site shortly thereafter.
“The IDF did not carry out any aerial fire toward the humanitarian aid distribution center in the Rafah area. IDF troops fired warning shots in the area outside the compound,” a military spokesperson said.
“Control over the situation was established, food distribution operations are expected to continue as planned, and the safety of IDF troops was not compromised,” the spokesperson added.
“Hamas still has weapons,” US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters at a briefing in Washington later in the day.
“Hamas is in a situation here where all of this could have stopped, of course, if they had released the hostages and put down their weapons, but they refuse to do so. They’ve also rejected ceasefires,” Bruce said pointedly. “So that’s -– without confirming what might be gossip or single reports — the fact of the matter is Hamas has been opposed to this dynamic. They have attempted to stop the aid movement through Gaza to these distribution centers. They have failed, but they certainly tried.”
The bottom line, Bruce said, is that the aid is moving through, despite Hamas attempts to stop it.
“In that kind of an environment it’s not surprising that there might be a few issues involved, but the good news is, is that those seeking to get aid to the people of Gaza, which is not Hamas, have succeeded,” she added.
The United Nations is working nearly as hard as Hamas – albeit not through violence – to destroy the program.
Some 400 trucks’ worth of supplies were still sitting on the Gaza side of the border on Wednesday, waiting for international aid organizations to pick it up, Israel’s Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) reported.
The aid had already been processed through the crossing but was still waiting for pickup and delivery. COGAT released images showing the uncollected pallets of supplies.
“Despite Israel expanding delivery routes and extending operating hours, the UN has failed to fulfill its duties and continues to circulate misinformation about the humanitarian situation,” said COGAT chief Major General Ghassan Alian.
“We have reestablished aid access into Gaza and contacted all humanitarian actors, urging them to assist in getting aid to civilians. The UN, however, has not followed through and is now delaying vital relief efforts. It must immediately act on its obligations as a key humanitarian partner.”
The IDF said it has made necessary logistical and security arrangements to facilitate the pickup and delivery process, but UN teams have not arrived to carry out the distribution.
“From the very beginning, we had mentioned, and we had heard about the resistance by certain NGOs and the UN,” Bruce said.
“It is unfortunate because the issue here is getting aid to Gazans, and then suddenly it moves into complaints about style or the nature of who’s doing it or elements of administration. And being opposed to getting food and aid, as we have demonstrated here is happening and will continue to happen, because someone might feel left out is, I think, the height of hypocrisy.”
Nevertheless, she said, “clearly people who care about the nature of solving this problem are taking action and moving it forward. And that’s what counts. That’s what matters.”
