Gazans go hungry as Israel claims “enough food to spark an obesity epidemic”: Gaza in limbo – Day 4

Compilation of news reports – IAK staff

Israeli forces killed a Palestinian in central Gaza Tuesday, while a toddler died of hypothermia.

Also on Tuesday, Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinians, including one woman, in Beit Hanoun, in the northern part of the devastated and besieged Gaza Strip.

In the West Bank, Israeli forces killed two Palestinians in Jenin and another near Nablus.

NOTE: The 42-day ceasefire (“Phase One”) between Israel and Gaza ended on Saturday night, but Phase Two has not begun. Phase Two, which all parties agreed to in January, would include a permanent end to the war, the return of all remaining living Israeli hostages and a number of Palestinian prisoners, and the withdrawal of all Israeli troops from Gaza.

Israeli tanks open fire on ambulances carrying injured Palestinians near Rafah crossing

Israeli tanks opened fire on ambulances carrying Palestinian patients set to be evacuated from the Gaza Strip for medical attention abroad, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said on Tuesday.

In a brief statement, Anadolu has reported, the society said that the ambulances came under Israeli fire near the Rafah border crossing in southern Gaza as patients were being transported in coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO).

Gaza ‘running out of basic necessities’ as Israeli blockade continues

Israel claims Hamas has ‘enough food to spark obesity epidemic’

An Israeli government spokesperson claimed yesterday that Hamas has “enough food to spark an obesity epidemic” after the occupation state decided on Sunday to suspend the entry of humanitarian aid into the besieged and devastated Gaza Strip.

Speaking at a press conference in Jerusalem, spokesperson David Mencer said: “Hamas has been stockpiling supplies for months and months.”

“They have enough food to spark an obesity epidemic, but the only ones we observe gaining weight are Hamas members… No one in Hamas is facing hunger.”

Israel has been accused of using a policy of starvation as a weapon of war in its genocidal war on Palestinians in Gaza in an effort to force them out of the enclave to make way for illegal Jewish only settlements.

NOTE: Israeli officials have provided no evidence that Hamas is stealing aid. On the contrary, Israeli news outlets have reported that the Israeli military itself is behind the looting of aid trucks.

‘Systematic failures’ allowed Hamas to capture key Israeli base on 7 Oct

An Israeli army investigation exposed “a chain of systematic failures” in the Nahal Oz base during the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, Ynet reported on 3 March.

The investigation concluded that the large military base, located just a few hundred yards from the Gaza border, was not drilled for an attack, tank crews were told not to be on standby for their tanks, defensive positions facing the Gaza neighborhood of Shujaiya were empty, and only one soldier, a sentry, was guarding the entire base.

The report said 60 fighters from Hamas’s elite Nukhba Brigade infiltrated the Gaza border fence during the first wave of the attack and took control of the Nahal Oz base within half an hour.

Hamas took advantage of multiple Israeli failures, including the presence of firing slits in the perimeter of the base, which allowed its fighters to shoot crossfire at the Israeli soldiers inside, and a policy that approved officers to reduce combat forces at the base by about half on weekends so soldiers could enjoy time off at home (continue reading here).

RELATED: Hamas explained why it attacked Israel on October 7, 2023

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Palestinians in Israel face persecution as far right settlers seize control of the state

From the earliest days of the genocide in Gaza, Israeli society quickly aligned itself with the aggressive rhetoric of its politicians, fueling the state’s crackdown on Palestinian citizens. 

Many Israelis took it upon themselves to incite violence, humiliate Palestinians, and even call for the arrest of Palestinian citizens who expressed outrage over the unfolding atrocities in Gaza.

Palestinians within the Green Line understood the new reality, and responded by adopting a politics of silence. 

They avoided political discourse with Israelis, restricted or deleted their social media presence, and severed ties with Israeli acquaintances amid widespread incitement.

As harrowing images emerged from Gaza, Palestinians inside Israel saw the extent of public support for Israeli war crimes, and realised that with the right political climate, nothing would stop the state from taking extreme measures against them – including a return to the military rule they endured from 1948 to 1967, or worse, mass expulsion (continue reading here).

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Katz: Israel will begin building a wall along the Jordan border soon

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced during a tour of the occupied Jordan Valley yesterday that Tel Aviv will begin building a wall along the border between Israel and the occupied West Bank and Jordan, in the coming months, and that the goal is to complete the construction of this wall within three years.

The goal of the wall, he explained, is to “prevent the smuggling of arms and terrorism, as well as strengthen settlement” in the occupied Palestinian Jordan Valley. “I ordered the promotion of establishing settlements along the wall in order to strengthen our control over the area,” he said, according to a statement issued by his office.

NOTE: Israel has illegally built around 280 settlements on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, which are home to more than 700,000 illegal settlers. Israeli settlements and settlers on Palestinian land are a violation of international law, and considered by many Palestinians to be the main barrier to any lasting peace agreement.

According to the Israel Policy Forum, the Israeli government’s initial priority in establishing settlements was security. Israeli leaders established Jewish “communities” illegally in the Palestinian West Bank in order control territory over which Israel does not exercise sovereignty. and to provide for the country’s perceived security needs. A civilian settler population could also act as the first line of defense against an invasion. 

Some analysts have described this placement of Israeli civilians on what may be considered hostile territory (i.e. non-Israeli land) amounts to making settlers human shields.

Some settler groups have a history of violence against Palestinians, often with the assistance of Israeli military forces.

In a landmark advisory opinion on July 19, 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land “illegal” and demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

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Trump signals that colleges allowing pro-Palestine protests could face funding cuts

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to slash the federal funding of colleges that allow what he called “illegal protests” – a reference to the pro-Palestine university encampments and similar movements that swept across the US last year. 

“All federal funding will STOP for any College, School or University that allows illegal protests,” Trump wrote on his social media platform TruthSocial.

“Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came,” he said. “American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS!”

NOTE: Pro-Israel organizations consistently work to silence Palestine advocacy on campus – a free speech violation. One strategy they use is to pressure universities to officially adopt the IHRA “definition” of antisemitism, which defines legitimate criticism of Israel as antisemitic. Other strategies include blocking prestigious appointments of and events with supporters of Palestinian rights, threatening to withhold major donations, and more. Typically, any move that defies the standard pro-Israel position is followed by an apology like the one Sonoma State University’s president Mike Lee issued – an apology that recognizes only the sentiments of pro-Israel students and ignoring the actual issues of free speech, safety of pro-Palestine students, and divestment from Israel.

Pro-Palestine demonstrations on college campuses have overall been peaceful and non-confrontational, and have notably included a significant number of Jewish students. When there has been violence, it has come from pro-Israel counter-protesters and police.

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“Golden Dome”

U.S. President Donald Trump told a joint session of Congress that he plans to pass legislation funding an American version of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system entitled “the Golden Dome.”

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US State Dept unfreezes $95 million in aid for the Lebanese army

The State Department is waiving $95 million in military assistance to the Lebanese armed forces amid the Trump administration’s nearly 90-day foreign-aid freeze, two U.S. officials told Axios.

The waiver suggests the Trump administration intends to try to strengthen Lebanon’s military and the new government that took office in January.

The aid is part of a broader Trump administration strategy to try to continue weakening Hezbollah, decreasing its influence in Lebanon and making sure the ceasefire with Israel holds, U.S. officials said.

NOTE ON AID TO ISRAEL AND ON BEHALF OF ISRAEL: The U.S. provides Israel more than $49 million in direct military aid per day.

From October 7, 2023 through September 30, 2024, the U.S. gave Israel a total of at least $17.9 billion. 

In addition to the $17.9 billion given directly to Israel, additional funds are spent as a result of Israel’s actions. One example is the added expense incurred by the U.S. Navy to defend maritime trade in the region, which has been threatened by the Houthis as a direct result of Israel’s war in Gaza. For the period from October 7, 2023 through October 7, 2024, this expenditure totaled $4.86 billion, bringing the total amount spent, in a single year, on behalf of Israel to $22.76 billion (or $62.4 million per day.)
On top this $4.86 billion spent as a result of Israel’s actions during one year of the war, there is typically more than $3 billion of additional funding spent on behalf of Israel. See this.

The United States spends more on military aid to Israel than to any other country. Israel receives this extraordinary amount of money even though it is the 22nd wealthiest country in the world.

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