NO FOOD SHRTAGE IN GAZA

Gaza stores full; markets overwhelmed with goods

"There is no food shortage in Gaza, and there never was," says an Israeli official familiar with the details. "The stores are full, the markets are bursting with goods, fruits, vegetables, shawarma, pitas - there is everything. Do you know why they no longer loot convoys? Because there is no shortage. The quantities entering are not normal."

 

By Ariel Kahana  

 

Israel Hayom

Apr 17, 2024

 

 

Palstinians buy and sell at an open market in Eafah in the southern Gaza Strip on April 9, 2024

 

As the US and other countries pressure Israel to increase food aid to Gaza, Israeli officials familiar with the situation say Gaza has been overwhelmed by food aid. Israeli officials harshly criticize American representatives, led by Ambassador David Schenker, accusing them of echoing the lie about "starvation in Gaza."

Israel Hayom has learned that every evening at 8 p.m., a quadrilateral forum takes place with representatives from Israel, the US, the UN, and Egypt, where a daily report on the humanitarian situation in Gaza is provided.

On Israel's behalf, representatives from the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) participate. The Americans are represented by the Special Envoy for Middle East Humanitarian Issues David Satterfield. Together, they count how many trucks were inspected and entered the Strip, how many unloaded their contents inside, and how many did not, as well as the extent of hunger in Gaza.

"There is no food shortage in Gaza, and there never was," says an Israeli official familiar with the details. "The stores are full, the markets are bursting with goods, fruits, vegetables, shawarma, pitas – there is everything. Do you know why they no longer loot convoys? Because there is no shortage. The quantities entering are not normal."

Recently, COGAT Commander Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian issued an unusual statement saying: "Israel does not constitute a bottleneck when it comes to providing humanitarian aid. The UN needs to do the job it is charged with and do it properly." These comments are just the tip of the iceberg of what officials dealing with aid think behind closed doors.

"There is no need to open a passage in northern Gaza, no need to open the port of Ashdod, and also no need for an air corridor in Gaza – because there is no lack of food. The air corridor is a crazy operation, the airdrops are unnecessary – they are expensive and the quantities are small, but they photograph well. The UN cannot distribute what enters, so why would more be needed?" an Israeli official familiar with the data said.

Despite this data, last week Satterfield told the American Jewish Committee (AJC) that "there is an immediate risk of starvation, for most if not all 2.2 million people in Gaza." This, despite the fact that in the three previous days, around 300 trucks entered the Strip per day.

In Israel, they believe that the way senior administration officials express themselves echoes the false claims of Hamas supporters in the US as if genocide is taking place in Gaza. "The rhetoric of Satterfield and others is shocking," says an official in the field of public diplomacy. "The only explanation for the disparitybetween what they know and what they say must be political. They say what will be pleasant for voters to hear. Incidentally, you can see that the policy in practice does not change."