Samantha Power becomes first US official to confirm famine, while aid workers decry continuing lack of help

A promised surge in aid into Gaza that Benjamin Netanyahu promised Joe Biden a week ago has so far failed to materialise, aid workers say, as the US aid chief confirmed that famine is beginning to take hold in parts of the besieged coastal strip.

One of Netanyahu’s pledges to Biden, to open the Ashdod port north of Gaza as a portal to sea-borne humanitarian aid, has led to no apparent action, according to the Israel N12 channel. N12 reported that none of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (Cogat) nor the Ashdod Port authorities have so far received instructions about opening the facility to shipments bound for Gaza.

Israeli officials had been promising their US counterparts for weeks that a crossing point would be opened into northern Gaza where the starvation is the most severe. It would either be at Erez, which was the main border point before the current war, or at a new site, they informed Washington. No decision was made, however, until Wednesday, six days after the Biden-Netanyahu call, when the defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said construction had begun on a new crossing. It is not clear how long that construction work will take.

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
    253·
    9 months ago

    All it would take is US military escorts for aid.

    If Israel wants to attack America to stop aid, let them do it and start a war against America.

    Anything else and they’ll just keep bombing aid sites.

    • sudo@programming.dev
      31·
      9 months ago

      There’s Israeli civilians blockading the border crossing with “No Aid To Terrorists” signs. The military escorts would have to disperse them first. As much as I love to see those genocidal freaks get cleared out, it would definitely be spun into a PR nightmare.

  • ULS@lemmy.ml
    171·
    9 months ago

    I hate that I feel like school and church lied to me about goodness. Looking back it’s like they tried to trick me into thinking there was good in this world. But it seems now any good comes with a darkness or simply is darkness disguised as good.

    Sorry if that’s off topic.

      • girlfreddy@lemmy.ca
        81·
        9 months ago

        In late stage capitalism money does in fact equal impunity … as long as you don’t steal from other wealthy people.

    • Linkerbaan@lemmy.worldOP
      22·
      9 months ago

      Without evil there can’t be good. At least the majority of people don’t approve of this. Sadly they are not the ones in power.

    • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
      6·
      9 months ago

      Or just march aid in with US troops…

      I dare Bibi to have IDF shoot then. Instantly turn the conservative faction in the US against them.

  • nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    83·
    9 months ago

    I feel so fucking helpless, is there nothing short of crime that can allow me to stop my tax dollars from supporting this? Ive Been BDSing for years now, and all I got was a congressperson indifferent to genocide. They’re dems too.

    • MakePorkGreatAgain@lemmy.basedcount.comEnglish
      1·
      9 months ago

      the average taxpayer has no say in the matter. you could just stop paying taxes but that never ends well for individuals without the money to hire a bunch of lawyers.

      • nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        21·
        9 months ago

        So then crime is the only way one can effectively take measures against genocide. I’ll say this, if I myself ever pick crime to try and stop a genocide, it’s not going to be tax evasion. It’s going to be something that works.