Why did Israel kill World Central Kitchen workers in Gaza?
Israel has described the apparent intentional killing of seven humanitarian aid workers in Gaza on April 1 as a “grave mistake” and a “tragic event” that “occurred in war” . That's clearly a lie. This so-called war in Gaza, in fact the genocide, is all based on a series of lies, some of which continue to be propagated by Israel.
Some in the mainstream media accept the obvious fact that Israel has been lying about the events that led to the war and its military objectives, including its constant targeting of hospitals, schools, shelters, and other civilian facilities. For some people, it took months.
Therefore, it was natural for Israel to lie and claim that it had killed six international workers and a Palestinian driver at World Central Kitchen. Despite such atrocious events, it is inconceivable that Israel will now start telling the truth.
Fortunately, few seem to believe Israel's version of the attacks and ongoing massacres elsewhere in Gaza. U.S.-based World Central Kitchen said in a statement last week that Israel is “unable to credibly investigate its failure in Gaza.”
Issues targeting these aid workers need to be placed within a larger context.
Israel has made little secret of its intention to deny Palestinians in Gaza even the most basic necessities, as epitomized by Defense Minister Yoav Galant's words on October 9: ” Initially, this statement and many others like it were understood to be the result of Israel's desire to punish Palestinians for the October 7 al-Aqsa flood operation by resorting to typical collective punishment tactics. It had been. But over time, and based on statements from other Israeli officials, it has become clear that Israel fully wants to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians.
Israel's strategy was quickly rejected by Egypt, Jordan, Arab states, and ultimately by other governments around the world. But Israel persisted. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the “voluntary resettlement” of Palestinians in Gaza was the “correct humanitarian solution.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed. “Our problem is to find a country willing to absorb Gazans, and we are working on that,” he said.
However, for ethnic cleansing to occur, several preconditions had to be met.
One is that the majority of Gaza's 2.3 million people had to be forcibly relocated south, as close to the Egyptian border as possible. This has been achieved.
Second, every aspect of life throughout Gaza had to be destroyed, including all hospitals and clinics. The most obvious examples were the gruesome massacre at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital on October 17th and the bloody and eventual complete destruction of Gaza's largest medical complex, Al-Shifa, on April 1st. .
When Israeli forces withdrew from the area around Al Shifa Hospital, they left behind one of the most tragic scenes in the history of modern warfare. Hundreds of bodies were hastily buried in mass graves amid charred buildings and unspeakable ruins. Children's limbs sticking out of the ground, entire families tied up and executed, and other crimes the world will take a long time to understand, let alone explain.
Yet, so casually, former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that “not a single civilian was killed” in al-Shifa. Once again, Israel is lying.
Thirdly, from an Israeli perspective, most of the shelters, bakeries, markets, power grids, Power plants also had to be targeted.
The Palestinians, fully aware of Israel's ultimate plan to cause famine in Gaza, fought back. Their counterstrategy was premised on leaving as many Palestinians as possible in northern Gaza and preventing the Palestinians concentrated in Rafah from being driven out into the Sinai Desert.
Apart from the ongoing fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian resistance forces, another type of war was occurring in the Gaza Strip. Israel's desire for ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people, and the Palestinians' desire to survive and remain within the borders of the Gaza Strip.
This is precisely why Israel has killed so many Palestinians involved in livelihood promotion activities in northern and central Gaza. According to the United Nations, prior to the attack on international staff at the World Central Kitchen, Israel had already killed 196 humanitarian aid workers. This figure does not include doctors, medical staff, civil defense workers, police chiefs or officers, or anyone else who contributed to sustaining life in areas from which Israel wanted to vacate.
Even as Israel allowed limited aid to northern Gaza under international pressure, Israeli forces repeatedly targeted Palestinians who had gathered desperately in search of life-saving supplies.
A report released last week by the EuroMed Human Rights Monitor found that between January 11 and March 23, Israel carried out attacks on people waiting for aid at designated locations in northern Gaza, as well as targeting distribution centers and workers. The attack killed 563 Palestinians and injured 1,523 others. Responsible for distributing aid. The Kuwait Rotary area of Gaza City alone witnessed the killing of 256 starving refugees, and Al Rashid Street saw a further 230 murdered.
The Israeli bombing was not random; 41 police officers were also targeted and killed as they worked with volunteers from various tribes in Gaza to help the United Nations Refugee Works Agency distribute aid to starving people. . Even the clan itself became a target of equally relentless bombardment.
Whenever an organization responsible for delivering aid is attacked, that organization declares that it will no longer be involved in Gaza.
Dr. Ramsey Baroud
Whenever an organization responsible for delivering aid is attacked, similar to the result of attacks on workers in the world's central kitchens, the organization declares that it will no longer be involved in Gaza. Thus, strip starvation turned into complete starvation.
The recent killings of international aid workers in Gaza were carried out to serve the same purpose of denying any aid distribution mechanism.
Ironically, World Central Kitchen's involvement was itself the result of a US-negotiated agreement denying Gaza authorities and even UNRWA any role in receiving and distributing aid.
Israel must be stopped at all costs and Israeli war criminals must be held accountable for one of the greatest massacres in modern history.
- Dr. Ramsey Baroud is a journalist and author. He is the editor of the Palestine Chronicle and a non-resident senior fellow at the Center for Islamic and Global Affairs. His latest book, which he co-edited with Ilan Pappe, is “Our Vision for Liberation: Committed Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak Out.” X: @RamzyBaroud
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