Killing of 5 Foreign Aid Workers from the World Central Kitchen

[cherryjamontoast]

I've just seen on social media graphic videos of 5 dead aid workers from Australia, Austrian and British. The WCK are the people responsible for the ships coming into Gaza at the Jetty to distribute food. This was the second ship that departed from Cyprus a few days ago. Once arriving at the jetty they had to distribute the food. They were targeted in an armoured vehicle in Deir el Balah by the IDF. Its now being pick up by the press.Very sad.

@FOJN

"OK, I need to rephrase my question; where did the information about spike missiles come from? I've seen it "alleged" but not confirmed"

It's what is standard fitted to the Hermes done plus if it was anything more substantial then there really wouldn't have been anything left of the vehicles.

But what actual negative consequences have there been? Absolutely none.
A few Politicians have said they need to be more careful but thats all

Not sure why you won't say where you got that information but anyway I see it's been reported in today's Sunday Times, however still only saying "high likelihood".

Defence Industry Europe say the IAF won''t confirm what munitions they equip the Hermes 450 with.

https://defence-industry.eu/israel-iaf-uses-hermes-450-drones-for-precision-strikes-on-hamas-targets/

@FOJN

Given the Hermes 900 carries Spike missiles and that the Hermes 450 is a smaller version then I really can't see it carrying anything heavier and there isn't really anything much lighter- plus it was carrying at least four of the things (carried in pairs and three were used). So a logical deduction is that they were Spike missiles.

The US has forced them to open Erez again, which they really really didn’t want to do. I’m sure they will shut it again as soon as they think they can get away with it, but for the moment it’s open.

The IDF officer fired for the killing of 7 WCK aid workers is a West Bank settler from Gush Etzion
https://twitter.com/muhammadshehad2/status/1776942291300516330

They even gave him a prize. Says a lot.

Erez isn't open yet - tho' hope/expect the US is breathing down their necks to ensure that it actually happens

322 trucks in yesterday thro' Rafah and Kerem Shalom which is a big improvement and needs to be sustained but none of it went to the north

Australia have appointed someone from their side to probe the deaths of the aid workers as they are not satisfied with Israel's investigation and findings.
Seeing as 3 Britons were killed I'm disappointed that our government seem so laid back in comparison

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/australia-says-former-defense-chief-to-probe-deaths-of-gaza-aid-workers/

“And yes, it is anti-Semitism when the one Jewish state in the world is always, always assumed to be bad actors, while every other country in the world is allowed to have friendly fire and accidents.”

While certain antisemitic people do think like this, I think Israel actually was allowed more latitude than most countries in terms of friendly fire accidents and civilian collateral deaths by the global majority. When we are six months in and more UN workers have been killed than in the entire history of the UN ever, more children killed than in all conflicts in the rest of world added together over the past 3 years, more journalists than ever recorded in a single conflict- I think other countries would have faced harsher global criticism and a lot sooner.

I think that the protection of Israel by the US has far outweighed any global antisemitic bias in realpolitik terms.

It’s a sunk cost and likely one Israel didn’t pay, but the US did. Also, a drone pilot isn’t risking his/her life to fly an attack drone and drop missiles. IDF soldiers at checkpoints lives are being risked.

Drone = $750,000 per mission paid for by Uncle Sam
As few as possible IDF men and women coming back in body bags= priceless goodwill to keep Israeli public favour of the war.

The logical choice is to kill your enemy and collateral from as far away as possible.

He wasn’t really “fired” though as he was a reservist called up by the IDF. A reservist who is sent home early from a war isn’t being punished. Only if he were stripped of rank, and stripped of reservist pension entitlements- things like that are punishments. As it is, I would think getting to go home early from a war is more of a reward than a punishment.

419 trucks into Gaza yesterday which is a great improvement on all previous months [if sustained] and without doubt now shows that Israel was witholding aid

29 trucks directed to northern Gaza too which is a start

IDF_COGAT

@KestrelMoon looked back to see the wording from IDF - he was 'dismissed' - is there no shame/disapprobation in this?

Appreciate your point about getting a early release

In military terms, isn’t the command ‘Dismiss’ used when a period of duty has ended? It’s an ambiguous word to choose. I thought people were discharged from the forces - dishonourably or otherwise?

UN and PRCS are disputing these figures and also saying some trucks were half-empty due to dual-use items being removed

So we'll see

Israel has been blocking far more convoys carrying food aid within Gaza, where famine is looming, than convoys carrying other kinds of aid, the UN has said.
A spokesperson for the UN’s humanitarian agency pointed to statistics from March showing that it was much more difficult to get clearance for delivering food than other aid in the besieged enclave.
“Food convoys that should be going particularly to the north, where 70 percent of people face famine conditions, are … three times more likely to be denied than any other humanitarian convoys with other kinds of material,” Jens Laerke told reporters in Geneva.
Laerke also pointed to delays linked to the crossing point opening hours and the fact that Israel has barred Egyptian drivers and trucks from being in the same area at the same time as Palestinian drivers and trucks.
“That means there’s not a smooth handover,” Laerke said.
The main problem though was then getting authorisation and assurances that aid distribution can go ahead unimpeded, he said.

frim the guardian

I guess that the US using 'reversal of famine indicators' is more useful than disputed trucks in and how they are distributed

Please ignore this - it doesn't make a lot of sense

Dismissed as a reservist isn’t a discharge from the military. (Edited to add I know you did not say it was)
Dismissed just means removed from your post.
As a reservist, that usually means sent home or put on a desk job.

There is some shame, but you keep your officer rank, your officer pay, your reservist status, are still promotable and you keep your pension entitlement. It is a step up from a written reprimand in terms of administrative disciplinary action.

As a reservist, he’d maybe have a bit of a delay to getting promoted.

I would have liked to see a court martial. After all, Israel has military courts sentence children to very long prison sentences for throwing a rock that scratched the paint job on a tank. But an IDF Officer that decided to kill seven human beings due to poor judgement and poor procedures? He isn’t even having to go to military court.

Thanks @KestrelMoon that's interesting

Not sure if this matters or not - Erez isn't ideal for big lorries anyway just hope it's being done in a timely manner and not dragged out interminably

Israeli army setting up new border crossing, not opening Erez: Report

The Israeli army is currently establishing a new border crossing to bring humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip “and at this stage is giving up on opening the Erez crossing, fearing it will be blocked by Israeli protesters”.
This is according to Israeli Army Radio correspondent Doron Kadosh.

The Israeli military hopes the location of the new crossing, to be built in northern Gaza, but in a less central location, will make it difficult for protesters to block the entry of aid into the besieged Palestinian enclave, he reported.

Yes I was listening to the operations director of UNWRA on C4 news the other evening and he said the Erez crossing was not a goods crossing more cars and pedestrians so he was concerned it wouldn't have the capacity for large aid trucks

Also it was severely damaged by fire on 7/10 tho' there's been 6 months to fix it and it's also where many Israeli soldiers were killed that day so can understand the reluctance to use it

Just a bit concerned that it doesn't turn into a prolonged faffing about exercise as it needs to be sorted sooner rather than later