Israel stands by as aid convoys come under attack in Gaza

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******* stands by as aid convoys come under ******* in Gaza

Tel Aviv — For the past year, hungry Gazans have waited in desperation for more food to enter the besieged territory from *******. After aid trucks have been allowed in, there have been episodes of looting. 

But now, armed ********* gangs are intercepting entire convoys.

Truck driver Abu Ahmad was in the worst incident so far when more than 100 trucks were attacked on Saturday. The gangs shot through the windows of his truck, he told CBS News, saying they would ***** any driver who didn’t stop.

Ahmad said ******** tanks were nearby and an ******** drone watched the entire ******* unfold.

However, *******’s military says it is not responsible for protecting the aid convoys, a premise with which former ******** Prime Minister Ehud Olmert disagrees.

“The ******** government doesn’t want it to happen. They want to punish the Palestinians, because the basic premise is that all of the Palestinians in Gaza support the terrorists and therefore they all should be punished,” Olmert told CBS News, adding that if the ******** army is able to build roads in Gaza, it should be “capable of making the necessary logistical arrangements” to provide humanitarian support for the people that live there.

A soldier stands on patrol as trucks carrying humanitarian aid prepare to cross into the Gaza Strip on Nov. 11, 2024, in Erez West Crossing, *******. 

Amir Levy / Getty Images

On Thursday, the International ********* Court issued arrest warrants for ******** Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former ******** Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Mohammed Deif, a ****** leader who ******* claims was ******* in a July airstrike. The charges included “******* against humanity” and using “starvation as a method of warfare.”

Netanyahu called the allegations “antisemitic,” and the White House said it “fundamentally rejected” the decision.

Already, the poorest Gazans scavenge for food in garbage dumps as pitifully little aid gets across the ******** border. Much of what does make it into Gaza is being stolen at gunpoint, exacerbating the territory’s humanitarian crisis.  

It’s clear who needs to solve it, according to Juliette Touma, a spokesperson for the ******* Nations Relief and Works Agency in Gaza.

“It is up to the state of ******* to ensure that aid reaches people in need,” Touma said. “They are the occupying power.”

Local Gaza police used to protect the convoys in Gaza, but since February ******** soldiers have been targeting them, accusing them of links with ******.

Meanwhile, almost two million Gazans are struggling to survive.

“But to want to starve them, hundreds of thousands of people, to prevent them getting the food, the water which they need for survival, is atrocious, unacceptable and I think that the ******** government is creating something that may be come back to haunt us in a very, very painful way,” Olmert said.

Crisis in the Middle East

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Elizabeth Palmer

Elizabeth Palmer is CBS News’ senior foreign correspondent. She is based in the CBS News London Bureau, and reports on major events across Europe and the Middle East. Palmer was previously based in Tokyo, and before that in Moscow, for CBS News.

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#******* #stands #aid #convoys #******* #Gaza

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