Aid to Gaza must be allowed to flow
One principle of counter-insurgency warfare is that food supplies for the civilian population should follow in the wake of the army. Israel put its version of this doctrine into effect on Tuesday when a new organisation – the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – began distributing supplies to Palestinians.
The British Army would have allowed the United Nations to perform this task, but Israel has chosen to create a special foundation under its full control. With the UN bypassed, American contractors will hand out food parcels at distribution centres in locations chosen by Israeli commanders.
Given that the UN operation in Gaza was compromised by Hamas, Israel's decision to run the system itself is understandable. But if Israel insists on controlling the distribution of aid, then it must accept an obligation to ensure that supplies are available wherever there is need.
They should think twice before turning humanitarian aid into an instrument of military strategy by using it to draw Palestinians into the areas of Gaza where Israel plans to confine the entire civilian population of two million people.
What will become of wounded Palestinians or orphaned children unable to reach the distribution centres?
The war in Gaza is now the longest in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Hamas started it by attacking Israel on October 7, 2023 and inflicting the worst loss of Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust. Israel has every right to self-defence. But Israel's friends are entitled to ask what is the plan now? A US-brokered deal whereby all hostages would be released in return for ending the war needs to be seriously considered.
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