They know perfectly well that if you only let in less than 2% of the needed food over 2 months, the remaining population will end up fighting for it.
They are doing this so they can muddy the waters further by doing what FA is doing using the but Hamas excuse.
This gives them further time to keep starving the population, killing them when they go for food aid, and bottling them into a smaller geographical space.
We now know from work done by Boston Consulting Group that they were planning on then trying to move enough of them to Somalia. Other countries considered (Jordan, Egypt, UAE etc were simply not viable)
Their goal has always been to absorb that land eventually.
They can’t kill them all using military force (too obvious), so they are trying to force the issue using starvation as a weapon of war They also control the media in Israel leading to a pronounced right-wing MAGA effect where the population there sees curated images of the starvation.
Worth stating that even if their plan fails, they will have damaged the population in Gaza to such an extent using starvation that they will have health problems for many years into the future (this was also likely one of their secondary goals), and given the fact that the healthcare infrastructure in Gaza has largely been destroyed you will see much higher levels of increased morbidity and mortality over time.
As I’ve said, on a population-level basis [assuming 61,000 deaths is indeed accurate - it’s probably an undercount]: this would be the equivalent of 255,000 Israelis [about the population of Petah Tikva, the 5th largest city in Israel], or 9,270,000 Americans [approximately the population of the Chicago metropolitan statistical area].
Or, looking at the 1200 Israeli deaths: it’s the population-equivalent of about 284 Palestinians which Israel has killed about every 3.25 days so far. And, on occasion, it manages to achieve a high score and kills that many in a single day.
Nah. I chew and I chew, but I just can’t swallow that. There is no design.
I once had a bridge partner. He sorta bent towards the eastern philosophies. I was whinging about one thing or another and he told me:
*Some people blame the politicians. The politicians point to the military industrial complex. The corporate CEOs shake their finger at the federal reserve. And on and on it goes.
The sad truth is, no one is steering the boat. When you eventually finally see the bridge, you’ll realize there is no one mannng the wheel. Shit just happens. There is no design*
Meanwhile, Israel has declared “5 principles for ending the war.” Let’s examine them.
1 - never happening as long as Israel continues to harass Palestinians, randomly maim and kill them, and otherwise strip them of their possessions and land. Not to mention, even if Hamas laid out all its weapons in the open and said “this is everything, we have no weapons left”
Israel wouldn’t believe it, and
Israel would use that as a green light to mow down every last Palestinian in Gaza.
2 - Bibi and the right-wingers don’t care about this. They’ve had the chance to get this in the past, and they keep undermining peace talks. The hostages are merely a distraction from what the right-wingers want to do, which is exterminate the Palestinians. That will happen with or without the return of all the hostages.
3 - see #1. Not to mention, Israel really means “militarization of the Gaza Strip by us, with no opposition by anyone or anything.” And/or, “no ability to oppose us if we decide to wheel in one day and start shooting Palestinians for sport again - especially the kids, because we get lots of lulz from it.”
4 - see #1 and #3. Not to mention, Israel practically has this right now as it controls every entrance and exit from Gaza.
5 - this is really “we want a government in Gaza that’s Israel-friendly and will let us do whatever we want there, whenever we want there.” But even with that, elections would require peace and some semblance of normalcy, which would include the unfettered flow of aid into Gaza to not just end the starvation of Palestinians, but bring them back to some form of good health so they could take part in elections. Again, Israel isn’t doing that.
It’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t. If Israel left Gaza today, Hamas would declare victory and re-arm. If Israel keeps fighting, Hamas gets more recruits. Israel has to look out for its own safety first. I disagree about if Hamas laid out all its weapons, and I don’t think Israel wants to kill every Palestinian. If they wanted to, it would already be done.
Israel hasn’t been undermining the talks. Look at the last few rounds - all reports say that Hamas was sabotaging them. Israel agreed to terms laid out by other countries. Hamas was the one that walked away. And again, they don’t want to exterminate the Palestinians.
I think 3 & 4 can go together. This would be a temporary measure, to ensure that nobody is trying to kill Israelis. That leads to point 5.
A government that’s friendly? Absolutely. I don’t think Israel needs a government that will let them do what they want. They just want one that wants peace, not war.
Suleiman Al-Obeid, known fondly as the Palestinian Pele, was killed in an attack by Israeli forces while waiting for humanitarian aid, the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) said. Al-Obeid, who was 41, leaves behind a wife and five children.
Since October 2023, 662 people associated with the sporting sector have been killed, including 321 in the footballing community, said the PFA.
With Gaza facing a hunger crisis caused by Israel’s severe restrictions on the amount of humanitarian aid it allows into the territory, the UN rights office said last month that Israeli forces had killed more than 1,300 Palestinians trying to get food aid in the enclave since late May.
Anas Al-Sharif was a member of Hamas. Israel has supplied documents that seized from Hamas, showing that he was on their personnel roster, had received a salary from them, and participated in their training exercises.
Regarding the recognition of a Palestinian state - how exactly will this work? What are the borders of the state that will be recognized? Who makes up the government? Do they have a head of state?
Al-Jazeera is denying it, because they’re Al-Jazeera - it’s already been shown that many of their staff were affiliated with Hamas.
Other media sites are reporting what Israel is claiming, with some of them saying that Israel claims to have proof. The BBC says that he used to work for Hamas, but says that even if he still did, it wouldn’t be an excuse for killing him.
I don’t know who Israel released their evidence to - maybe they need to give it out to more people than they already have.
