Double standards in Gaza Opinion

The feared offensive on Rafah in southern Gaza is progressing slowly but steadily, without any appeal seeming capable of stopping it. The blockade of the border with Egypt and continued bombardment of what the Israeli military calls “terrorist targets” – although this only leads to increased civilian deaths – combined with the forced exodus of some 630,000 people from the besieged area. Until a few days ago, Rafah was home to more than one million Palestinians, many of whom were refugees from the north of the Strip.

It continues to carry out plans by Benjamin Netanyahu, whose military ordered the population to head to a coastal area already filled with displaced people without running water or sanitation, which he euphemistically calls the “humanitarian zone.” . Its objective is to clear the battlefield before a full-scale attack.

In addition to continuing to harass the Palestinian civilian population, Israel seeks to control the entry of supplies into the Strip. He has been doing this for almost 20 years through the passes of Eretz in the north and Kerem Shalom on the eastern border. It now wants to do it via the Rafah crossing, but faces Egyptian refusal to reopen that border: executives in Cairo insist that the Palestinian side of the crossing be controlled solely by Gazan authorities. Must be managed.

To try to alleviate the famine and helplessness of civilians, this Friday the military dock built by the United States began operating to allow the arrival of supplies by sea. Despite this, the United States has stressed that neither this infrastructure nor launching air support can be the only way to launch aid into Gaza. He also emphasized that this aid would be put to the United Nations in charge of coordinating distribution. All this in a war scenario in which 35,200 Palestinians have already lost their lives at the hands of Israeli armed forces.

The US administration’s message is, to say the least, contradictory. This week, at the same time as the first shipments from Cyprus were being prepared to land on Gaza’s shores, the White House announced a $1 billion arms shipment to Israel, providing an oxygen boost to Netanyahu’s destructive strategy. represents. One-handed weapon; secondly, humanitarian aid to deal with the devastation caused by them.

A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Farhan Haq welcomed the arrival of these ships in the Strip, but also raised the decisive question: “Will we be able to provide enough aid to keep people alive?” He added: “Unless things change fundamentally for the better, the answer is no.” The international community cannot ignore that response.