GNITN - Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 176

No Two-State Solution Wanted

Multiple Factual Flaws

According to a report from The Times Of Israel there is a disagreement over the conditions of Gaza between the United Nations and Israel:

Israel on Friday contested a recent UN-backed report on the humanitarian situation in Gaza that said famine was imminent and likely to occur by May in northern Gaza, and by July in other parts of the Strip.

The report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) further heightened global concerns regarding the humanitarian situation in the war-torn Strip.

The IPC uses a complex set of technical criteria. Its most extreme warning is Phase 5, which has two levels, catastrophe and famine. Famine is assessed as at least 20% of the population suffering extreme food shortages, with one in three children acutely malnourished and two people out of every 10,000 dying daily from starvation or from malnutrition and disease.

The article went on to comment that all famine criteria will be met soon:

In northern Gaza, “the upward trend in non-trauma mortality is also expected to accelerate, resulting in all famine thresholds likely to be passed imminently,” the IPC said.

The study said the number of people projected to experience “catastrophic hunger” across the besieged enclave between now and mid-July had nearly doubled to more than 1.1 million, or about half the population, since the IPC last reported in December, when there was already record hunger.

As mentioned earlier, Israel’s defense ministry has flaws, some very serious:

COGAT, the Israeli Defense Ministry body responsible for civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories, said in a response Friday that “the report contains multiple factual and methodological flaws, some of them serious.”

It argued the report grossly underestimated the amount of water available per person per day (claiming over 20 liters versus the report’s assessment of less than 1) while noting it lacked key information amid the chaos of the conflict — as acknowledged by the IPC report — and subsequently relied on incomplete data, including from Hamas.

“Given the difficulty in conducting surveys and samplings, the remotely conducted surveys, or third-party surveys within the Gaza Strip, diminish the reliability of the data,” COGAT said.

Plenty Of Food Available

The IDF monitors media from Gaza and went on to note this:

It said it has tracked reports in Palestinian media “every day” of “food markets filled with food of all types and kinds” in various parts of Gaza, including its north.

“We outright reject any allegations according to which Israel is purposefully starving the civilian population in Gaza,” COGAT also said.

“Even at the height of hostilities, in a war that was forced upon it, Israel places no limits on the amount of aid that can enter Gaza, and absolutely does not limit the entrance of food. Israel also facilitates entry of complementary products such as cooking gas and diesel fuel for the operation of aid centers, bakeries, etc. Additionally, 14 million liters of water are supplied by Israel.”

COGAT added that increased amounts of supplies are being seen:

It added that “in recent months between 150 and 200 trucks are admitted per day, most of which are food trucks. This is an 80% spike in comparison to the daily average food trucks that entered Gaza pre-October 7.”

As we already know, the problem isn’t sending aid to Gaza:

Additionally, COGAT noted the “reports and testimonies of theft, looting and commandeering of the aid trucks by armed players, some of them Hamas, others directed by Hamas, hijacking humanitarian aid and keeping it for its own interests, in a way that diminishes the amount of food that reaches the civilian population.

“Moreover, Hamas uses its control over the aid to further its governance in the Gaza Strip,” COGAT said. “This phenomenon also impairs the ongoing work of the aid agencies.”

So aid is getting to Gaza:

COGAT noted that it is also facilitating the entry of aid into Gaza via air and sea. Aid agencies say those methods are no replacement for bringing in aid by land.

An anonymous US State Department official told Reuters on Friday that there was currently an average of 250 aid trucks a day entering Gaza, but more were needed. The official said the US was working to help get more aid regularly through Gate 96, a new entry point to reach north Gaza, citing a lack of vetted drivers.

He said that separately Israel had facilitated some 350-400 trucks of privately contracted humanitarian aid to northern Gaza over the past three or four weeks.

Israel is trying to take Hamas out of the supply chain:

In an apparent coordinated leak, multiple Hebrew media outlets reported Friday evening that Israel is pushing for the establishment of an international peacekeeping force to secure the Gaza Strip and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid.

The reports said Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he had made headway on the matter during his visit to Washington this week.

Earlier this month a spokesman for COGAT told The Times of Israel that “we don’t believe that there is starvation in the Gaza Strip.”

“That’s not to say that there aren’t difficulties in some areas, but that we are doing everything we can to facilitate large amounts of aid,” the spokesman said.

Palestinians Reject Arab Control Of Gaza

In an article from The Jerusalem Post we read that plans to use an international force to bring stability to Gaza was roundly rejected:

Al-Mayadeen, a Hezbollah-affiliated network, reported on Saturday that "Palestinian factions" in Syria rejected the proposal to establish a multi-national military force of Arab countries with the backing of the US. This force would be responsible for controlling law and order in Gaza and escorting humanitarian aid convoys.

"Arab countries, together with the US, are trying to rescue the IDF from the situation it has found itself in Gaza. The Palestinian people are capable of choosing their leaders and institutions that will manage the Strip," the report stated.

Israel is thought to be in favor of the idea:

It was previously reported that Israel is interested in the advancement of an Arab force to both solve the issue of the looting of humanitarian aid convoys and prevent widespread hunger in Gaza. It would also to enable the creation of a Palestinian alternative to Hamas rule in Gaza.

A senior Israeli official said that "such a move will build a governing body in the area that is not Hamas and will solve Israel's problem with the US regarding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza."

This official also noted that Defense Minister Yoav Gallant discussed the possibility of establishing a multi-national force during discussions with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and in talks with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. All of this was in the framework of promoting a plan for "the day after" the war in Gaza.

This force could also so the same thing for the West Bank:

In another development, there are reports that senior officials of Arab nations have proposed a deployment of Arab forces not only in the Gaza Strip but also in the West Bank, KAN News reported on Saturday.

This proposal was brought up in a meeting last week between ministers of Arab countries and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Cairo, where these leaders put forward such a proposal to station Arab forces in the Gaza Strip and regions in the West Bank. The force would also reportedly see the return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza.

The foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates met with Blinken to propose this plan.

The idea of a two-state solution reared its ugly head again which they fear will not work long term with Israel only wanting a short term solution:

An Arab diplomat, who was aware of the meeting, told KAN that Arab leaders expressed willingness to deploy forces in the West Bank "to launch a peace process between Israelis and Palestinians, and to implement the two-state solution."

This source told KAN that Arab states fear that Israel will treat this solution as tactical and temporary, such as distributing humanitarian aid, rather than a comprehensive and strategic solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is something the Arab states would want to see through.

When will these leaders finally listen to what Israel is constantly saying and that is they are done with the two-state experiment? In the end, Israel simply has to control all the territory around them until they sure no terrorist threats are present.