Israel to continue to block aid to Gaza says minister

Israel Katz, the Defence Minister of Israel, has insisted that they will continue to block humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza.

As reported by Middle East Eye on April 16th, the minister also claimed that Israel would continue to place soldiers in the region in order to maintain their occupation.

Katz released a statement saying that “Israel’s policy is clear: no humanitarian aid will enter Gaza, and blocking this aid is one of the main pressure levers preventing Hamas from using it as a tool with the population,” he went on to add that, “no one is currently planning to allow any humanitarian aid into Gaza, and there are no preparations to enable such aid.”

Israel has prevented aid from reaching Gaza for over six weeks now, since the ceasefire with Hamas fell apart before reaching its second stage on March 1st.

The charity Doctors Without Borders has said that the situation in Gaza has “turned into a mass grave of Palestinians and those coming to their assistance”.

On March 26th, the United Nations announced that it planned to scale back its staff in Gaza due to the increasing threat to their safety from Israeli bombardments.

Aid groups and charities including the UN and Amnesty International have accused Israel of committing crimes against humanity in Gaza and outrage from the international community has steadily grown in recent months.

When Israel first implemented their blockade on aid coming in to Gaza, the Egyptian government condemned the move and accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said on March 2nd that: “Each party must implement its obligations. The use of aid as a weapon of collective punishment and starvation must not, cannot, or should not be allowed.”

A UN special committee has also accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war.

Despite international outcry, Israeli minister Katz insists they are not going to change their position: “Unlike in the past, the [Israeli military] is not evacuating areas that have been cleared and seized”.

Middle East Eye, Maghrebi