Block-aid blockade
Israelis protest vs. Gaza
A group of Israeli protesters tried to block aid trucks from crossing into the Gaza Strip Saturday, vowing that “not a single loaf of bread” should reach those trapped in the tiny region until all remaining hostages are released.
The area around Kerem Shalom — Israel’s only functioning border crossing with Gaza — is a closed military zone, but police hardly deterred dozens of settlers, families of hostages and deactivated military reservists who attempted to slow the trucks’ progress.
“If we knew it’s getting to the children of Gaza, we [would not] do it . . . this arrives into the tunnels of Hamas, fighting us and holding our hostages,” protester Debbie Sharon said as she pointed at the truck convoy.
There is no evidence that the majority of the food and medical supplies was going to Hamas.
As of Saturday morning, Hamas was believed to still hold about 134 hostages who were kidnapped during the Oct. 7 terror attack on Southern Israel.
Meanwhile, food and drinking water are becoming scarce in the Gaza Strip — where the Hamaslinked Palestinian Ministry of Health says more than 30,000 people have died — and malnutrition is on the rise, according to the World Health Organization.
Aid has been slow to reach the region: Between Feb. 24 and
March 3, less than 1,000 trucks total entered Gaza, far below the required 500 per day, a UN official said. The US and allies have started delivering aid via air, but road access remains crucial, the agency said.
The protesters are led by Tsav 9, or Order 9, a movement named after the emergency mobilization alert for reservists.
A poll by the Israel Democracy Institute revealed that the group’s anti-aid stance has strong support. In other developments:
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke out Saturday in support of Hamas. “No one can make us qualify Hamas as a terrorist organization,” Erdogan insisted during a speech in Istanbul. “Turkey is a country that speaks openly with Hamas leaders and firmly backs them.”
Erdogan also slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war. “Netanyahu and his administration, with their crimes against humanity in Gaza, are writing their names next to Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin, like today’s Nazis,” he scoffed.
The United Nations Palestinian refugee agency risks falling apart after donors pulled funding due to allegations that some staffers participated in the Oct. 7 attack, chief Philippe Lazzarini said Saturday. Canada and Sweden resumed funding the agency this week. The US paused funding in February after the UNRWA allegations.