Israel's war against Hamas is succeeding. No wonder the West wants it to end

Yahoo

4 days ago

Believe it or not, six weeks from today is the 40th anniversary of Live Aid. For most people, the images that lodge in the mind – aside from the razzamatazz of the 'feed the world' finale – are those of starving Ethiopian toddlers with distended bellies, stick-thin limbs and flies spotting their eyes and lips.
Up to a million dead. Two-and-a-half million displaced. Two hundred thousand orphans. Yet four decades later, we are cynically being asked to believe, with no evidence, that a similar catastrophe is engulfing Gaza.
Get your children to open Snapchat and look at what ordinary people are posting in the Strip. This morning, I saw videos of a man baking bread, another cooking a stew, families eating together and footage of bustling markets.
They even have their own food influencers, like 11-year-old 'Renad From Gaza', who has 1.2 million followers on Instagram. Her recent videos show her cheerfully making lasagne, labneh, pitta and mezze, and home-made crisps from different shapes of pasta which she boils, dries in the sun, deep-fries and flavours. Astonishingly, from time to time she also posts that Gaza is 'starving'.
We must not underplay the hardship in the Strip. Malnutrition? There have been some recorded cases. But in 2022, before the war broke out, when Qatari money was pouring in and Hamas was putting the finishing touches to its 400-mile tunnel network, there were over 2,700 such cases amongst impoverished children under the age of five. That's what happens when your country is run by Islamist fanatics.
After almost three years of being driven to disaster by Hamas, everything is worse for the citizens of Gaza. They are reliant on aid and enduring relentless displacement, not to mention the appalling death and injury when civilians are caught in the crossfire as Israel battles to protect its people.
For many, daily life is an unglamorous grind of deprivation. On the phone, a contact told me he was at his wits' end over showering, a tedious process of gathering water, warming a portion over a fire, mixing it to get the right temperature, and pouring it over your head in the dubious privacy of a tent. Food is expensive and limited. But there is no famine.
Before the war, 72 trucks of humanitarian aid entered the Strip every day. After the onset of fighting, that number climbed to a daily average of 170, an increase of more than 98 per cent in volume. Of this, food increased by 80 per cent, facilitated by the IDF's Joint Coordination Board.
To put this in perspective, more than half-a-million Sudanese children under the age of five have died from malnutrition in two years of war.
With a population of 50 million, Sudan has received fewer than 1,500 truckloads of aid in the last two years. Gaza, whose population is 25 times smaller, has received 92,000 truckloads in the last 18 months. Yet we are told that Israel is starving the Strip.
What is really going on? The Kerem Shalom crossing is the only route into Gaza designed for cargo; the other one, the Rafah crossing into Egypt, was sealed in May, after Cairo refused to cooperate with Israel when the town was taken from Hamas.
Much of the aid entering through Kerem Shalom has been looted. Six months ago, the humanitarian coordinator, Muhannad Hadi, said: 'Just last week, one driver was shot in the head and hospitalised, along with another truck driver. This Saturday, no less than 98 trucks were looted in a single attack.'
The result? First, Hamas can prioritise feeding its fighters (while truly starving the Israeli hostages underground, some of whom have been able to see stockpiles of food). Secondly, it can maintain its grip on the population, controlling prices and enforcing obedience.
The sorry truth is that all the aid agencies in Gaza, including the UN, have been compromised by Hamas. This is unsurprising given that they are staffed by Palestinians, who are under the totalitarian rule of the jihadis.
Several UN staff took part in the October 7 atrocities. Ten per cent of its employees – about 1,200 men – are card-carrying members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad according to Israeli intelligence. Weapons and hostages have been found in UN facilities. Terrorists have operated from UN schools.
In March, Israel cut off deliveries of aid, placing the jihadis under pressure and forcing the depletion of stockpiles. Moronic Israeli ministers made inflammatory remarks which were seized upon by foreign enemies. But as the bottom of the barrel approached, Jerusalem was working on a new plan.
Together with the United States, it has now established a new agency, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which offers aid to civilians directly, bypassing both the UN and Hamas. Speaking to Arabic television on his way to receive food this week, one Palestinian man declared: 'We want to eat. Bravo Trump and the IDF!'
Hell hath no fury like a supranational institution scorned. Last week, a UN chief made the outrageous claim that 14,000 Palestinian babies would die within 48 hours. After these deaths failed to transpire, no apologies were offered, even from those MPs who parroted the libel in Parliament. It was propaganda and its job was done.
'If there's a problem, you have to go out there and solve it,' Bob Geldof said. That is exactly what Israel is doing. Don't let them tell you otherwise.
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