Gaza war: Israelis attack aid convoys for Palestinians

The war in the Gaza Strip is being fought on many fronts.

Months after some Israelis began protesting against aid trucks entering Gaza through the main Kerem Shalom crossing, fighting has shifted to other key crossings, where rival activist groups are doing their best to block or protect aid convoys.

In recent weeks, social media has been flooded with images of aid trucks blocked and looted.

Right-wing activists, including Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, have uploaded dozens of videos showing crowds of people, including some very young children, throwing food on the ground and trampling on boxes of aid.

“It is important to stop the aid,” says one activist. “This is the only way we can win. This is the only way we can get our hostages back.”

Many argue that Gazans should receive nothing as long as Israeli hostages are being held and that support for Gaza only serves to prolong the war.

In one video, a group of cheering protesters dance and celebrate on a looted truck.

In another case, one of the stranded trucks is on fire.

Other videos show Israeli vigilantes stopping trucks in Jerusalem and demanding papers from the drivers proving that they are not transporting aid to Gaza. Their faces are uncovered and they appear to act with complete impunity.

In the West Bank, at least two drivers who were not transporting goods to the Gaza Strip were dragged out of their taxis and beaten.

Palestinian truck drivers say they are traumatized.

“I am terrified of reaching the border crossing,” Adel Amro told the BBC.

“I fear for my life.”

Mr. Amro was transporting commercially purchased goods from the West Bank to Gaza when he was attacked. Other drivers who were victims of the attack are involved in aid deliveries from Jordan that have to pass through the West Bank and Israel to reach Gaza.

“We now take back roads, far from the main routes, because we fear the aggressiveness of the settlers,” he said.

But after a series of well-documented attacks, some Israelis are fighting back.

Peace activists are now tracking the movements of their opponents via social media and ensuring that they are present at the main border crossings.

At the Tarqumiya checkpoint, where trucks enter Israel from the southern West Bank, members of the “Standing Together” group now hold regular vigils.

Tarqumiya was the scene of one of the most dramatic attacks in recent times.

“The people of Gaza are starving and aid should reach Gaza,” said Suf Patishi, one of the founding members of Standing Together.

“Israeli society should say loud and clear that we are against these acts,” he said of the recent attacks on convoys.

“It’s not too much to ask not to starve, you know.”

The group brings together Jews and Arabs from all over Israel.

For Nasser Odat, an Israeli Arab from Haifa, arriving in Tarqumiya was a welcome opportunity to feel useful after watching the war in the Gaza Strip helplessly for more than seven months.

“I feel very empowered,” he said. “Now I can finally do something to help. I can help these people who are starving.”

While the peace activists sought shelter from the scorching sun under palm trees in the middle of a roundabout, passing truck drivers waved and honked in gratitude.

A small group of right-wing protesters arrived, but were far outnumbered by Mr Patishi’s volunteers.

In increasingly heated discussions, the two sides discussed their different positions.

Police officers stood nearby, ready to keep the rival camps apart in case anything got out of hand.

The peace activists accused the police under the control of Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, one of the hardliners in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, of doing little to stop the attacks.

They say there is evidence that the settlers have received help from the authorities, pointing to text messages in which groups organizing attacks on aid trucks ask for and receive help from the police and army.

“The police were often on the scene when attacks occurred, but they had no one to urge them to act,” Patishi said.

“And that’s very sad because the police should follow the law.”

As the trucks passed, two young women waved an Israeli flag but did not attempt to stop traffic.

The two, who wanted to be identified as Ariel and Shira (not their real names), explained why it was important to them to be there.

“To be honest, we would prefer not to have to do the blockades,” Ariel said.

“I don’t like looting things. It’s not one of my favorite hobbies. But we prefer that to the deaths of our friends and family, which are becoming more and more common the longer this war drags on.”

While both women were aware that there could be a famine in Gaza, they were convinced that Hamas was stealing and hoarding aid rather than distributing it to those in need.

And they were not concerned about the image of Israel conveyed by the images of humanitarian trucks stopped, looted and set on fire.

“It’s time to stop caring what everyone else thinks,” Shira said, “and do what is necessary to protect my life and my family.”

Ariel was dismissive towards the police.

“They won’t intervene unless they’re sure they can finish it,” she said. “They won’t start something they can’t finish.”