Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 46 people in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours — including 11 in an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone, medics said — as the country missed a deadline set by Washington to allow more humanitarian aid into the Palestinian enclave.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin had, in an Oct. 13 letter, given their Israeli counterparts a list of specific steps that Israel needed to take within 30 days to address the worsening situation in Gaza. Failure to do so may have possible consequences on U.S. military aid to Israel, they said.
But on Tuesday the Biden administration said the U.S. would not reduce its military support, having concluded that Israel is not currently impeding assistance to Gaza. The State Department cited some progress, even as international aid groups said Israel had failed to meet the U.S. demands.
“We’ve seen some progress being made. We would like to see some more changes happen. We believe that had it not been for U.S. intervention, these changes may not have ever taken place,” said State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel.
Patel said Washington will continue to assess the situation.
Patel declined to explain why Washington chose to make the assessment based on Israel’s measures to address the problems instead of actual results on the ground, which U.S. officials have repeatedly said would be their measuring stick.
In October, 57 trucks a day entered Gaza on average, and 75 a day so far in November, according to Israel’s official figures. The United Nations puts the number lower, at 39 trucks daily since the beginning of October.
Desperate for aid
Israel’s latest airstrikes included one against a makeshift cafeteria used by displaced people in Muwasi, the centre of a “humanitarian zone” that Israel’s military declared earlier in the year-long war.
At least 11 people were killed, including two children, according to officials at Nasser Hospital, where the casualties were taken. Another 11 people were killed in an airstrike in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to the hospital.
In an open field on the west side of Khan Younis, dozens of Palestinians gathered recently at the sight of air drop planes arriving.
The Jordanian planes dropped boxes attached to grey parachutes to the sounds of a cheering crowd. But the elation also came with danger. As the search for food in Gaza grows more difficult and the potential for famine sets in, the rush toward these aid drops can potentially be lethal.
Ahmed Al-Ghoul says he ran a very long distance to get to the drop but returned empty handed.
“We get shot at … a man was shot in front of me,” he told freelance videographer Mohamed El Saife. “It’s like a mafia; if it hits the floor, they think it’s theirs.”
Al-Ghoul says there are families sheltering in the fields where the drops happen and if boxes land nearby, it’s claimed as theirs and those families will shoot anyone who comes near them.
Abdullah Marouf, who was also at the drop, said he waited two hours for the planes.
“There’s a period of famine occurring that is even harsher than Gaza,” he said. “Now, with people waiting for these parachutes, a brother will beat his brother for a can of tuna.”
The search for food in Gaza has grown more difficult as the Israel-Hamas war drags on, and as the potential for famine sets in, the rush toward aid packages dropped from planes can potentially be lethal. One man told a freelance videographer for CBC News that there are families sheltering in the fields where some drops happen, and if boxes land nearby, they are claimed and those families will shoot anyone who comes near them.
Fear of famine
Israeli forces have also been besieging the northernmost part of Gaza since the beginning of October, battling Hamas fighters it says regrouped there.
With virtually no food or aid allowed in for more than a month, the siege has raised fears of famine among the tens of thousands of Palestinians believed to still be sheltering there. Cindy McCain, executive director of the UN World Food Program, has warned that “famine is likely happening or imminent in north Gaza.”
Israel has announced a flurry of measures in recent days to increase aid, including opening a new crossing into central Gaza. But so far the impact is unclear.
The military said Tuesday it had allowed hundreds of packages of food and water into Jabalia and Beit Hanoun, two areas under siege in the far north of Gaza. The Palestinian civil defence agency said three trucks carrying flour, canned food and water reached Beit Hanoun.
It was only the second delivery allowed into the area since the beginning of October. A smaller cargo was let in last week, though not all of it reached shelters in the north, according to the UN.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, Israeli warplanes struck targets in Lebanon including Beirut’s southern suburbs — an area known as Dahiyeh, where Hezbollah has a significant presence — soon after the Israeli military issued evacuation warnings for 11 houses there. There was no immediate word on casualties.
Israel also struck an apartment building east of Beirut — killing at least six, according to a local man — and a residential building in central Lebanon, killing at least 12 according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
The Israeli military said Tuesday four of its soldiers were killed in Jabalia in Gaza.
Palestinian health officials say hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, though the true numbers are unknown as rescue workers are unable to reach buildings destroyed in strikes. Israel has ordered residents in the area to evacuate. But the UN has estimated some 70,000 people remain.
The war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israeli communities, killing around 1,200 people and seizing another 253 hostages, by Israeli tallies. Israel’s brutal military campaign has levelled much of Gaza and killed around 43,500 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.
The conflict has also ignited hostilities between Israel and Lebanon, with Israel going on the offensive in September and pounding wide areas of Lebanon with airstrikes it says are aimed at the militant group Hezbollah. In the past year, Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,000 people in Lebanon and displaced a million, while Hezbollah attacks have killed roughly 100 people in northern Israel.
