‘Total out
Protesters block convoy, throw food into road and set
fire to vehicles at Tarqumiya checkpoint near Hebron
Lorenzo
Tondo and Quique Kierszenbaum in Jerusalem, and Julian Borger in Washington
Mon 13 May
2024 23.21 CEST
The White
House has condemned an attack on an aid convoy heading to Gaza by Israeli
settlers who threw packages of food into the road and set fire to the vehicles.
Video of
the incident on Monday at Tarqumiya checkpoint, west of Hebron in the
Israeli-occupied West Bank, showed settlers blocking the trucks and throwing
boxes of much-needed supplies on the ground. Photographs from the scene showed
piles of damaged aid packages and drifts of rice and flour across the road.
Late on
Monday, photos began circulating on social media showing the trucks on fire.
Israel has
faced heavy international pressure to step up the flow of aid into Gaza, where
international organisations have warned of a severe humanitarian crisis
threatening a population of more than 2 million people.
“It is a total outrage that there are people who are
attacking and looting these convoys coming from Jordan, going to Gaza to
deliver humanitarian assistance,” US national security adviser Jake Sullivan
told reporters.
“We are
looking at the tools that we have to respond to this,” he added. “We are also
raising our concerns at the highest level of the Israeli government and it’s
something that we make no bones about – this is completely and utterly
unacceptable behaviour.”
Referring
to a US report issued on Friday on Israeli compliance with international
humanitarian law, Sullivan said that the Israeli state had hindered aid
deliveries in the recent past but had improved the flow sufficiently, so as not
to be subject to restrictions on military aid that might have been required
under US law.
“We believe
that there were periods over the last few weeks where there were restrictions
that had to be worked through,” Sullivan said. “But at the time we put that
report forward, we felt that there was sufficient work being done by the
Israeli government with respect to the facilitation of humanitarian aid, that
we did not make a judgment that anything had to be done in terms of US
assistance.”
Police do
not appear to have intervened to stop the looting, though four people including
a minor were later reported to have been arrested.
This is not
the first time that settlers have tried to stop the flow of aid to Gaza, which
is already only a fraction of that needed by the population of the embattled
territory.
Last week,
Israeli demonstrators blocked a road near the desert town of Mitzpe Ramon to
protest against the delivery of aid trucks into the strip. The protesters – who
say the aid is helping Hamas and want to block its passage until all Israeli
hostages are freed – formed a sit-in protest as they scattered rocks across the
road to prevent vehicles from passing, creating standstill traffic.
Israel’s
siege of Gaza has created what aid officials are referring to as “man-made
starvation”, with the territory facing the threat of mass deaths from famine
with children already dying from hunger.
In March,
the international court of justice ordered Israel to allow unimpeded access of
food aid into Gaza, where sections of the population are facing imminent
starvation.
Aid efforts
have been further complicated by the temporary closure of the headquarters of
the main channel for humanitarian support for Palestinians after weeks of
violent protests and arson attacks by Israeli right-wingers.
The UN
agency for Palestinian refugees announced it was closing its East Jerusalem
headquarters on Thursday after a fresh attack by what Philippe Lazzarini, the
head of the agency, described as “Israeli extremists”.
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário