CRINGE PICS: TROUBLE IN GAZA (FOR THE NEW GUY ON THE BLOCK)

 

 

    Lineup at GHF's Rafah 'Aid' Station

“SO, HOW’S THE GENO GOING OVER THERE? STARVING BABIES “Я” US! Right? Ha-ha! What’s that, you say? The U.S. has a plan to feed ‘em! Do tell. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. So, they’re setting up a whole new thing. Wow! Hey, don’t get me wrong but aren’t they the same folks who built that floating pier last year? The one that floated away before any food aid could be delivered! That was FUBAR, matey, all round. But, I’m sure they’ve learned their lesson. What? Well I'll be! You say they’re using private contractors this time. And a new Swiss aid charity up and running barely before the ink’s dried on the incorporation papers. Speed-O! With armed mercenaries there to keep things running smoothly. Sweet! Makes sense. Who needs UNRWA. So what if they have expertise, people on the ground, a proven track record, and can run schools and other social services. They were just showing off.

I can see that it’s out with the old and in with the new, eh, sensi? But where do they go? All of them? To Rafah? It'll get crowded, won't it? Oh. That’s the plan. Get ‘em all in one spot, keep an eye on them until they open the gates into Egypt. Man! Will the Egyptians be pissed! So, bomb them until they move south to where the food is, and…that'll be something! You say the IDF will control three-quarters of Gaza in two months, with the north and central parts completely free of Palestinians. Wowser! That's impressive! I guess with enough bombs and bullets just about anything is possible. Good luck with your geno.”

 

    Close-up of  cattle shutes aid lines in Rafah

AS I UNDERSTAND IT, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a newly incorporated Swiss entity has, or is, opening four aid distribution centres in the Rafah district. Palestinians who move south to get food there are to be screened, their passports checked and retinal scans done before they can receive a small box of food. Thus far, the new distribution system has proven woefully inadequate, with chaotic scenes of desperate Palestinians breaking down barriers to grab food boxes. GHF has four "mega" food distribution sites set up in Rafah. Four sites for two-million people! (UNRWA had four-hundred.) What could possibly go wrong? And since pictures speak louder than words, here’s what goes wrong: The first two pics are of the fenced-off lines Palestinians are expected to queue, as each person was individually scanned and IDed. The third pic is what happens when you’ve starved a population for nearly three months, bombed them, killed scores of mostly women and children on a daily basis, then forced them to march south to so-called 'aid centres' in the hopes of receiving food to feed their families, only to spend long hours behind fencing that looks more like a cattle shute.

It's interesting to note that the new CEO of GDF resigned his position last Sunday, prior to this week’s food fiasco saying: “[T]he group’s aid distribution system could not work in a way that would be able to fulfill the principles of ‘humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence’”.  (BBC)

IN ADDITION, Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council and a former UN humanitarian chief, describes the GHF aid distribution system as “militarized, privatized, politicized.” He goes on:

 

"The people behind it are military - ex-CIA, ex-security people. There is a security firm that is going to work closely with one party to the armed conflict, the Israel Defense Forces," he told the BBC on Monday. "They will have some hubs... where people will be screened according to the needs of one side in this conflict - Israel…We cannot have a party to the conflict decide where, how and who will get the aid.” (BBC)

 

The Israeli government says it is sponsoring the new aid relief organization (that got the green light from the Trump administration) because, it claims, Hamas steals the food provided to UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. The UN organization has decades of experience, with personnel on the ground, along with warehouses and distribution networks set up to serve the Gazan people should humanitarian aid be allowed back in. Currently, Israel has disallowed the UN agency to operate within the Gaza Strip and has shuttered its offices in Tel Aviv.

 

Desperate Gazans break down barriers to access GHF food stores.

Since March 2, 2025, Israel has blockaded all aid from entering Gaza to the point that agencies still operating there have raised the alarm of empty warehouses and shuttered distribution centres. And all the while, people are literally starving to death. Last week, the Netanyahu government allowed in a minuscule amount of aid, not because it's the morally correct thing to do, but rather to keep its Western supporters, particularly the United States, from turning against them. In recent days, countries like Canada, France, Britain, even Germany have condemned Israel’s genocidal policies in Gaza, demanding an immediate lifting of the blockade. It seems pictures of starving babies on the nightly news are proving to be a PR nightmare for Prime Minister Netanyahu and his gang of thugs. 

 

👉Humanitarian aid must be allowed to enter immediately and UNRWA and other aid agencies must be allowed to operate and do their jobs. As it stands, the majority of humanitarian aid now entering Gaza is through GHF. None of the other aid organizations, like the World Food Program, UNRWA, Oxfam, etc., will cooperate with the new relief agency for the reasons outlined by Jan Egeland.

 

👉Netanyahu’s obvious ploy of weaponizing food distribution to corral and control Palestinians in the southern Rafah region, as part of his plan to ethnically cleanse them from Gaza, is despicable and criminal. Global public opinion is turning against Israel and condemning its actions in occupied Palestine. Even some of our current crop of feckless political leaders are beginning to see which way the wind is blowing, as they strive to get in sync with their populations.

 

👉But, actions, not just words, are needed to end what Grayzone editor Max Blumental calls the "holocaust of our time."

 

[p.s., I wonder if GHF will last longer than 2024's floating dock? Ed.]

 

 

Cheers, Jake. ____________________________________

  

FUN FACT: Last Friday, while Dr. Alaa al-Najjar, a paediatrician at Nassar Medical complex in Khan Younis, was a work, nine of her ten children, who were at home with their father, Dr. Hamdi al-Najjar, were killed in an Israeli bombing attack. [It may have been a targeted attack on health care workers. Over 1000 have been killed since Oct.7, 2023.] Dr. al-Najjar was at the hospital when the bodies of her children, burned and mutilated, were brought in, along with her severely injured husband and son, Adam. The children had Egyptian passports, and the family had hoped to emigrate to Cairo. Another tragedy, another day in Gaza. [UPDATE: Dr. Hamdi al-Najjar died from his injuries last Saturday.]

 

[Here's a short vid of Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, an American trauma surgeon, who volunteers his services in Gaza. His is a compelling presentation before the United Nations Security Council on the state of Gaza's health care system (it's virtually nonexistent), as well as his description of some of the cases he's treated while at the Nassar Medical complex in Khan Younis.]