Aid workers in Gaza were returning from distributing food that had
arrived by ship, when three successive
Israeli
drone attacks hit their three vehicles and killed 7 of them. In response, the humanitarian
charities that ran the operation have suspended their activities in Gaza.
Israel said that the attack was done intentionally, and offered the excuse that an armed HAMAS
fighter was accompanying them (but not in order to attack anyone). So what? That is no excuse
to attack a group of civilians, let alone a group of aid workers!
That statement shows that Israel's policies are such as to systematically lead to attacks on
aid workers, and that its "cooperation" with aid deliveries is bogus.
The article reports that that HAMAS fighter had in fact remained at the warehouse and did not
accompany the aid workers who were attacked. But that detail does not matter. Even if he had
accompanied them, that would not have excused the wrong of attacking an aid convoy. Local
temporary truces are normal and important in war, and Israel must respect them when aid
agencies make them. It must also generally avoid attacking civilians even though some HAMAS
fighters are near them.
The US government response, though critical of Israel, was too weak. We cannot expect the
demanded investigation to seek the truth, and Israel could easily draw it out for six months
hoping the world will get distracted. Perhaps the US made that response before Israel stated
the details in the article.
Unless the facts stated in the article are incorrect, the only remaining question is why
commanders concluded it was acceptable to knowingly attack an aid convoy that they had agreed
to protect. Such a sensitive policy decision must have come from a high level — from
ministers, I expect.
One must speculate that the purpose of this attack was to make the aid operations suspend
bringing food to Gaza. A hypothetical sincere investigation might confirm this, but
governments are not often that sincere about their motives.
The US should skip the useless "investigation" and tell Israel to change these policies and
respect truces for aid deliveries, or it will receive no more arms.