FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
JERUSALEM – One hundred trucks are needed every day. At least. Water, food, medicine. Which eventually allowed Bibi Netanyahu to enter Gaza. At the Rafah border crossing – sealed for two weeks, the only escape route from the war and entry for those who help – a few humanitarian containers have been queuing up for days, but they are not enough.
And to land them in the Egyptian city of El-Arish and then take them to Sinai to reach the border takes at least another 24 hours: the road to Rafah has been bombed by the Israeli Air Force in recent days, that it needs to be renovated. And so the rescue operation will only begin today. The day of anger for the entire Arab world, of prayer for those who hope for peace, of hope for those who can no longer endure it.
Fourteenth day. Do it quickly. In every sense. Netanyahu tells the soldiers: “Fight like lions.” Now you see Gaza from a distance, soon you will see it from the inside.” “The order will come,” he adds as he visits them at the front. Then, together with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, he mentions the invasion of Gaza: “This is our darkest hour – he quotes Churchill -.” They fought against the Nazis 80 years ago, now we have to fight together against Hamas, which is the new one represents Nazism.” Will you enter? According to the American broadcaster ABC TV, which cites intelligence sources, the Israeli army has received the “green light”. And many voices in Jerusalem confirm that the “if” has now been decided if we need to understand the “when.”
However, haste is also the watchword of the tormented people in Gaza. Because they really can’t do it anymore. On Wednesday there was a fight in a UN building that was full of refugees up to the electric cabins and toilets: two families got into an argument over a controversial water tank. UNRWA says it has sheltered 513,000 people. And the other (almost) two million? Abandoned on the street, thrown between the standing houses, in the queue in Rafah. It is not yet clear whether fuel can penetrate. A United Nations flag is flown at the Rafah crossing on the Gaza Strip-Egypt border to protect the area from raids.
Aid must be provided “in a sustainable form,” demanded Egypt, which, together with the United States, is the center of this entire operation to save the Gaza Strip: This means that the trucks can be inspected by the United Nations and General Abdel Fatah Al Sisi Turn off the tap whenever and however you want. Furthermore, the Jordanians and Egyptians have already made it clear that they will never accept a single refugee: “If they are looking for a desert to house them,” Al Sisi asked, “then why don’t the Israelis take them to the desert ? Negev?
It is not mentioned: Netanyahu has warned that not even a humanitarian box will pass through Israel, let alone people, until Hamas releases the hostages. Furthermore, the solidarity of the Arab brothers with the poor Palestinians – starting with the rich people in the Gulf – is, as always, limited to many proclamations and few interventions. Biden has promised $100 million in aid, Putin has already sent 27 tons of material into the air, Europe will decide in the next few hours. This is the first emergency: give food and drink. Then you don’t really know what to do. When it comes to hospitals, for example: The destroyed hospital in Al-Ahli treated 45,000 people a year. On Wednesday morning at the Anglican Cathedral in Jerusalem, all the heads of the Holy Land’s main churches met with journalists to reiterate that “terrible tragedies” are occurring in the Gaza Strip.
Mohammed Salah, the Egyptian footballer for Liverpool FC and idol of the audience, also launched an appeal: “Too much violence, too much pain, lives are sacred and must be protected, send help…”. He had remained silent, shocked by the Hamas massacre on the kibbutzim. His fans scolded him: Salah, say something Arabic… In the end he could no longer remain silent.