Since the Hamas attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023 and the start of the latest Israeli military offensive on Gaza, calls for the unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the besieged strip have gone tragically unanswered. answer.
Over the past 14 months, more than 45,000 Palestinians – two-thirds of them women and children – have been killed, many others have been seriously injured and much of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure has been reduced to rubble. The situation on the ground today is simply apocalyptic.
As the violence continues with no end in sight, the need for humanitarian aid in Gaza has increased significantly. Not only bombs and bullets, but also the chronic lack of food, clean water and basic health care threaten the lives of the population.
“Gaza residents face catastrophic levels of hunger. Famine threatens. This is intolerable. Crossing points must open immediately and bureaucratic obstacles must be removed,” UN Secretary-General Antonia Guterres said on October 17.
This was neither the first nor the only call on Israel to respect its obligations under international law and ensure Palestinians in Gaza have access to adequate aid amid relentless military aggression.
In January, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to “take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse living conditions faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Israel has so far refused to respond to these calls and has maintained strict restrictions on the flow of aid to the besieged Gaza Strip.
Unable to force Israel to declare a ceasefire or open its borders to aid and facing growing domestic pressure to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian population, several governments in the region and the West have launched in operations to provide aid, often symbolic, which unfortunately did not succeed. a big difference with the situation on the ground.
Aid packages dropped by Jordan and France, for example, brought temporary relief to a limited number of people, who were lucky enough to get their hands on them, but did nothing to alleviate the suffering masses in the long term.
In many cases, these initiatives have served only to provide political capital to responsible governments, allowing them to appear committed while avoiding the difficult decisions and actions needed to make a real difference.
The most high-profile, costly, and overall damaging example of such token aid initiatives is the U.S.-led effort to establish a temporary maritime corridor between Cyprus and Gaza to deliver aid. Initially hailed as a vital humanitarian lifeline that would allow aid deliveries to bypass heavily contested land routes and reach target populations quickly, the project proved riddled with inefficiencies and complications.
Known as the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore modular system, the initiative aimed to transport aid from Cyprus to Gaza via a series of ships, a floating platform and a temporary jetty attached to the beach.
It appears that the idea of a maritime aid corridor was first proposed to US President Joe Biden and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the first weeks of the all-out attack on ‘Israel against Gaza. According to the Reuters news agency, Israel believed it would be an “important step” towards economic disengagement from the enclave. After months of political wrangling, the corridor became operational in May, almost seven months after the start of the conflict.
The launch of the aid operation received much attention around the world and was applauded by both the United States and its European allies as an important step in preventing famine in the besieged Gaza Strip. The cost of the project was also considerable. The U.S. government allocated approximately $230 million for the operation, deploying 1,000 U.S. soldiers and sailors as well as 16 ships. The United Kingdom government is also known to have contributed to the mission.
Despite its high-profile launch and considerable cost, the humanitarian impact of the maritime corridor has been extremely limited. Due to various problems, the corridor only operated effectively for 20 days before being officially abandoned.
According to a report from the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the United States expected to provide enough aid to feed 500,000 people for 90 days. However, ultimately only about 8,100 tons of aid – the equivalent of a day’s worth of pre-war truck deliveries of aid – were delivered through the corridor during its brief operational window.
Additionally, much of the aid that managed to reach Gaza via this route did not reach its intended recipients.
One of the main goals of this initiative was to provide aid to northern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of civilians were trying to survive under near-complete siege and relentless bombardment with limited access to food.
To this end, humanitarian organizations active on the ground had proposed that the temporary pier for the delivery of aid be built in the north. However, the Israeli army demanded that it be located on a beach in central Gaza. The United States agreed, clearly demonstrating that in this operation its priority was not to provide effective humanitarian assistance but rather to respond to Israel’s military concerns and strategic demands.
Arriving in central Gaza, aid had to travel a long way to reach the needy masses in the north. This caused significant logistical and operational problems, with hungry crowds hijacking trucks carrying supplies and looting goods whenever they could.
During this time, bad weather repeatedly damaged the pier, eventually rendering it permanently unusable.
All of these problems suggest that the real aim of this initiative was not to feed starving Palestinians but to alleviate growing diplomatic pressure on Israel to respect international law and open land routes for the delivery of food. help. The entire project was more of a publicity stunt than a serious effort to ensure the survival of a beleaguered population.
Ultimately, the cost of the maritime corridor was not just financial. This maneuver, which at every step placed Israel’s interests above the needs of the Palestinians, also had a heavy humanitarian cost because it politicized aid and helped Israel undermine international humanitarian law with impunity ( IHL), which clearly prohibits the blocking of aid to a civilian population. .
Not only did the Israeli military, which is the very reason the Palestinians are in need, have a say in how and where this aid was delivered, but they were also allowed to inspect the aid packages. help in Cyprus before they begin their journey. in Gaza. All this raised serious questions about the impartiality of the mission. Furthermore, it gives the impression that certain actors may ignore IHL, or worse, attempt to use it to achieve their political and military objectives.
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues to intensify with 95 percent of the population displaced and nearly 80 percent of civilian infrastructure destroyed. As the death toll rises and suffering deepens, the international community must focus on more effective and politically neutral aid delivery consistent with IHL.
To avoid a complete erosion of trust in humanitarian aid, it is crucial that the international community – and humanitarian organizations themselves – reaffirm that they respect the principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence when provide much-needed aid to Gaza.
Humanitarian agencies must take a strong stand against any form of aid manipulation and make clear that it will not be co-opted into political or military strategies.
The global community, which has a responsibility to uphold international humanitarian law to ensure that all civilians in need have unhindered access to aid, also has a responsibility to protect humanitarian workers.
There were 161 aid workers killed by Israel in Gaza in the last three months of 2023 alone, and many more have since fallen victim to this conflict. The global community must hold accountable all parties – whether Israeli or Palestinian – who harm humanitarian workers.
The failure of the Cyprus-Gaza maritime corridor and other equally symbolic initiatives in Gaza do not only harm Palestinians left without help. They also harm all people, wherever they are affected by conflict, because they undermine the very foundations of humanitarianism and humanitarian law.
The people of Gaza, like all people affected by conflicts around the world, deserve more than symbolic gestures. They deserve truly impartial, effective and unhindered help to alleviate their suffering.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Tel Aviv Tribunes.
