Israel boasts of humanitarian aid flooding in to Gaza – so, where is it? – Day 186

UN is underwhelmed by the amount of aid Israel is supposedly allowing into Gaza; over half of Khan Younis buildings damaged/destroyed; Human Rights Watch calls for sanctions on Israel; young Christian woman kidnapped by Israeli forces in West Bank, her whereabouts unknown; Tucker Carlson interviews Bethlehem pastor about Israel’s treatment of Palestinians; Israel mulls hostage-for-prisoner exchange; Turkey initiates restrictions on exports to Israel; Australia may recognize Palestinian state; “What crime is Israel hiding?” asks Foreign Press Association; US pier may cost up to $200 million; Israel scraps promised north Gaza crossing for aid, more

By IAK staff, from reports

Israel claims it allowed enough aid in one day to feed all of Gaza; UN disagrees

Reuters reports: Israel says aid is moving into Gaza more quickly after international pressure to increase access, but the amount is disputed and the United Nations says it is still much less than the bare minimum to meet humanitarian needs.

Israel reports 419 trucks on Monday and 468 on Tuesday; the Red Crescent and the UN gave much lower figures, with the U.N. saying many trucks were only half full because of Israeli inspection rules.

COGAT, the Israeli military department responsible for aid transfers, denies it is hindering humanitarian relief into Gaza, and blames delays on the United Nations, which it says is inefficient.

“Yesterday alone enough food went into Gaza to feed every single person there. The U.N. fails to distribute it and Hamas steals it,” David Mencer, spokesperson at Israel’s National Public Diplomacy Directorate, said on Tuesday.

About 55% of Khan Younis structures destroyed or damaged

Al Jazeera reports: An estimated 55 percent of the buildings in the Khan Younis area – about 45,000 buildings – have been destroyed or damaged, according to Corey Scher of the City University of New York and Jamon Van Den Hoek of Oregon State University, two mapping experts who used satellite imagery to track destruction.

The scenes in Khan Younis underscored what has been one of the world’s most destructive and lethal military assaults in recent decades, leaving most of the tiny coastal territory unlivable for its 2.3 million people.

It also portended what is likely to happen in Gaza’s southernmost town of Rafah, where half of Gaza’s uprooted population is now crowded, if Israel goes ahead with plans to invade it.

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HRW calls for sanctions on Israel to force aid into Gaza

A new report from Human Rights Watch, Gaza: Israel’s Imposed Starvation Deadly for Children,” calls for “targeted sanctions” and the suspension of arms transfer to press Israel to ensure access to humanitarian aid and basic services in Gaza.

The rights group said in a statement children in the besieged and bombarded territory have been dying from starvation-related complications since the Israeli government began “using starvation as a weapon of war, a war crime”.

“Governments outraged by the Israeli government starving civilians in Gaza should not be looking for band-aid solutions to this humanitarian crisis,” said Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at HRW.

“Israel’s announcement that it will increase aid shows that outside pressure works. Israel’s allies like the US, UK, France, and Germany need to press for full-throttle aid delivery by immediately suspending their arms transfers.”

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Young Palestinian Christian woman abducted in West Bank

Independent Catholic News reports: The Archbishop of Canterbury has appealed for the release of a young Christian woman who has been abducted by Israeli forces in the West Bank today.

In a message on X (formerly Twitter) The Archbishop wrote: “I’m shocked and deeply concerned by this news. Together with our Palestinian Christian brothers and sisters, I pray for Layan and her family – and for the congregation of St Peter’s Anglican Church in the Occupied West Bank. Please pray for Layan’s safety and swift release.”

Richard Sewell, Dean of St George’s College, Jerusalem wrote on X: “Deeply disturbed and shocked that a member of our church in Birzeit in Occupied West Bank has been arrested by Israeli forces. Layan Nasir is a 23 year old Palestinian Christian. Family don’t know where she is being held. Great concern and prayers for Layan and her family.”

Nasir, a member of St Peter’s church in Birzeit, was taken by Israeli troops on Saturday. Her family said they were not given a reason for her detention nor were they told where she is being held.

‘Impacts Us Severely’: Tucker Highlights Devastation Brought On Christians In Gaza By Israel-Hamas War

Daily Caller reports:  Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson highlighted the toll the war in Gaza is having on Palestinian Christians during an interview with Reverend Munther Isaac, the pastor at the Evangelical Lutheran Christian Church in Bethlehem

Carlson highlighted the October airstrike that he says left a Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza in ruins.

“The church is in ruins. At least 17 people were killed that day,” Carlson outlined. He also recalled the 2002 siege of the Church of Nativity where Israeli soldiers shot and killed a mentally disabled clergyman in Bethlehem…

Israel mulls release of 900 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 40 hostages

Andalou Agency reports: Tel Aviv is considering a proposal by the US CIA director to release 900 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 40 Israeli hostages held captive by Hamas, with the condition that they be deported to another country and not be allowed to return to their homes in the Gaza Strip, local media reported.

“A proposal by CIA Director William Burns would see Hamas release 40 hostages, with Israel freeing 900 Palestinian security prisoners, 100 of whom are serving life sentences,” unnamed Israeli officials told the Walla news site on Tuesday.

“Israel was seeking to deport released prisoners overseas instead of allowing them into the West Bank or Gaza, and was demanding a veto on the specific prisoners released,” the officials told the website.

There have been no comments by the concerned parties on the website’s reports regarding the Israeli conditions.

‘Flagrant violations’: Turkey imposes export restrictions on Israel

Australia to consider recognizing Palestinian state, foreign minister says

Reuters reports: Australia’s foreign minister Penny Wong said Canberra would consider recognition of a Palestinian state, a shift in policy as the international community looks for a two-state solution to end the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

In a speech on Tuesday evening, Wong backed comments by Britain’s foreign minister David Cameron who has said that recognizing a Palestinian state, including at the United Nations, would make a two-state solution irreversible.

Wong said the international community is discussing Palestinian statehood “as a way of building momentum towards a two-state solution,” and “a two-state solution is the only hope to break the endless cycle of violence,” she said, speaking at the Australian National University.

“It also strengthens the forces for peace, and undermines extremism. It undermines Hamas, Iran and Iran’s other destructive proxies in the region,” Wong said.

“The failures of this approach by all parties over decades – as well as the Netanyahu government’s refusal to even engage on the question of a Palestinian state – have caused widespread frustration.”

Her comments come after a number of countries including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta, Slovenia and Spain have also floated the idea of recognizing a Palestinian state.

Middle East Monitor reports: The Foreign Press Association (FPA) has called for Israel to allow international journalists “expanded and unfettered access to Gaza,” noting that “six months is far too long” for journalists to be banned from the enclave.

No foreign journalists have been allowed into Gaza since Israel launched its deadly military offensive in October, since when more than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of them women and children.

The FPA is the world’s oldest and biggest association of international journalists. It said that Israel’s blocking of journalists for this long is “unprecedented” and “raises questions about what Israel does not want international journalists to see.” It noted that the Israeli authorities have repeatedly rejected FPA appeals for access, both in private meetings and in a supreme court ruling, citing security-related and logistical arguments.

“The blanket ban has limited the world’s ability to witness the true cost of the war to all sides,” said the non-profit organization.

Cost of US effort to build humanitarian aid pier off Gaza expected to top $180M

ABC News reports: President Joe Biden’s plan to build a humanitarian pier floating off the coast of Gaza that could enable delivery of food, water and medicine into the devastated region is expect to cost at least $180 million and could top $200 million, ABC News has learned.

The price tag was described by two people familiar with the initial estimate, which has not been released by U.S. Central Command.

The tally is expected to fluctuate as U.S. officials scramble to finalize key details on the project, including which humanitarian relief organizations and foreign governments are willing to help carry the shipments to shore and distribute them to ease the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza.

Officials also continue to discuss how to protect service members who will be operating three miles offshore of Gaza, where Hamas is believed to still operate.

The project — which triggered the deployment of six Army and Navy ships and will involve some 1,000 U.S. military troops — is on track to become operational in early May, enabling the delivery of some 2 million meals a day.

Israel reportedly to drop planned north Gaza crossing due to aid truck protests

Times of Israel reports: Army Radio reports that the Defense Ministry is planning on keeping the Erez crossing on Gaza’s northern border closed and will instead seek to open a crossing at an alternate site, fearing that protesters on the Israeli side will disrupt the entry of aid into the Strip.

The report does not say where the new crossing will be placed, but says it will be “less central” in hopes that protesters will have a harder time getting there and blocking trucks than they would at Erez, which sits at the terminus of a major highway.

Defense officials fear police will not be able to be relied upon to keep protesters away given hard-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s control over the force, Army Radio says.

About 50 arrested for protesting Israel-Gaza war in Senate cafeteria

Washington Post reports: About 50 activists calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Gaza war were arrested Tuesday after protesting in the Senate cafeteria around lunchtime.

As of 1:15 p.m. Tuesday, Capitol Police spokeswoman Brianna Burch said about 50 people had been arrested inside the Dirksen Senate Office Building under a D.C. code that prohibits crowding, obstructing or incommoding, which is often cited in the arrest of protesters.

The protesters, organized by a group called Christians for a Free Palestine, were also demanding that Congress end the U.S. sale of military weapons to Israel and restore funding to U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the United Nations agency that distributes most of the food, medicine and basic services to Palestinians in Gaza and across the Middle East. They held signs that said “WOE TO YOU WHO SLAY THE HUNGRY” and “BREAK BREAD NOT BODIES.”

“I want to loudly proclaim that my Christian faith calls me to challenge Christian Zionism and stand in solidarity with Palestine,” Rev. Naomi Washington-Leapheart, a national leader with Christians for a Free Palestine, said in a news release.

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Middle East Eye: Gaza families win legal challenge against Home Office refusal for family reunion requests

Electronic Intifada: EU signs huge number of science grants for Israel amid Gaza genocide

Palestine Chronicle: “I want to die at home”: the Gaza man who was tortured in life and death

IMEMC News Reports

Eid prayers in the Gaza Strip outside a flattened al-Farouq mosque in Rafah. pic.twitter.com/lNtEGITZQ9

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) April 10, 2024

STATISTICS OCTOBER 7 – APRIL 9:

Palestinian death toll from October 7 – April 9: at least 34,113* (33,644 in Gaza* (14,500 children, 9,560 women), and at least 469 in the West Bank (117 children). This does not include an estimated 7,000 more still buried under rubble (4,900 women and children). Euro-Med Monitor reports 40,042 Palestinian deaths.

At least 42 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons (27 from Gaza, 14 from West Bank)

At least 31 Palestinian children and several adults have died due to malnutrition**

About 1.7 million, or 75% of Gaza’s population are currently displaced.

About 2.2 million (out of total population of 2.3 million) are facing Crisis, Emergency, or Catastrophic levels of food insecurity.

Palestinian injuries from October 7 – April 9: at least 80,933 (including at least 75,933 in Gaza and 5,000 in the West Bank).

It remains unknown how many Americans are among the casualties in Gaza.

Reported Israeli death toll from October 7 – April 9: ~1,407 (~1,139 on October 7, 2023, of which ~574 were civilians, 373 or 337 were security and/or military forces, ~32 were Americans, and ~36 were children); 259 military forces since the ground invasion began in Gaza;, 16 in the West Bank) and~8,730 injured.

Times of Israel reports: The IDF also listed 41 soldiers killed due to friendly fire in Gaza and other military-related accidents – nearly 16%.

NOTE: It is unknown at this time how many of the deaths and injuries in Israel on October 7 were caused by Israeli soldiers.

*Previously, IAK did not include 471 Gazans killed in the Al Ahli hospital blast since the source of the projectile was being disputed. However, given that much evidence points to Israel as the culprit, Israel had previously bombed the hospital and has attacked many others, Israel is prohibiting outside experts from investigating the scene, and since the UN and other agencies are including the deaths from the attack in their cumulative totals, if Americans knew is now also doing so.

**Euro-Med Monitor reports that Gaza’s elderly are dying at an alarmingly high rate. The majority die at home and are buried either close to their residences or in makeshift graves dispersed across the Strip. There are currently more than 140 such cemeteries. Additionally, according to Euromed, thousands have died from starvation, malnourishment, and inadequate medical care; these are considered indirect victims as they were not registered in hospitals. 

Find previous daily casualty figures and daily news updates here.

For more news, go here and here. Broadcast news from the region is here.