Israel’s Goal of ‘Destroying Hamas’ is A Hoax to Hide the Genocide

On Saturday January 20th, the lead story on the top right of the front page or the New York Times was “In Strategic Bind, Israel Weighs Freeing Hostages Against Destroying Hamas: Some Israeli Commanders Said the Government’s Two Main Goals were Mutually Incompatible.” It opened

After more than 100 days of War, Israel’s limited progress in dismantling Hamas has raised doubts within the military’s high command about the near term feasibility of achieving the country’s principal wartime objectives: eradicating Hamas and also liberating the Israeli hostages still in Gaza.

On that same Saturday, the Weekend Edition Saturday show of NPR headlined

“War in Gaza drove Them from Their Homes. Now, Many Palestinians can’t Even Find Tents”,

[And reported to NPR by Anas Baba in] Rafah, the Gaza Strip – The tents and makeshift shelters have sprung up everywhere in recent weeks, on the streets, in the courtyards of hospitals and schools, on once empty patches of desert that are now full.

A desperate few have even set up on top of destroyed buildings.

“I felt This was A Safe Place because It has Already Been Targeted. They Won’t Hit It Again,” said Samir Salah, who evacuated Gaza City in October and now lives with his family in a tent a top a flat piece of rubble.

As the War between Israel and the militant group Hamas enters a fourth month, combat in Gaza has advanced farther south, and Palestinians fleeing the violence, many of them for the third, fourth or even fifth time, have packed themselves into Rafah, Gaza’s Southern most major city.

More than a million displaced people are estimated to be taking shelter in the city, on top of its pre war population of 270.000 Apartments and other dwellings are housing dozens, even hundreds of people, as Israeli airstrikes continue. Shelters operated by the United Nations in Gaza are full far beyond their capacity, the UN says.

With nowhere else to turn, Palestinians are now living in tents or makeshift shelters made of wood beams and sheets of nylon. And the swelling demand for shelters and the lack of supply has sent prices for materials sky rocketing.

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Satellite imagery provided to NPR by the company Planet shows the rapid expansion of the tent camps since mid December.

“You Look Outside the Window of One of Our Facilities, and All I Could See was the Sea of these Make Shift Structures,” said Juliette Touma, a spokes person for UNRWA, the UN agency that aids Palestinians. She returned Tuesday from a trip to Gaza.

After Israel’s ground invasion began in October following Hamas’ cross border attacks, Mohammed Abu Salah and his family fled from their home in Absan, an area near Gaza’s Eastern border, heeding Israel’s urging to seek shelter in Khan Younis. But the fighting has since come to Khan Younis, forcing them out yet again, this time into a tent.

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Before the War, tents in Gaza were mainly used for recreation, such as family gatherings at the beach. A high quality tent might have cost 200 shekels, or about $ 50.

This month, a small tent cost Abu Salah 700 shekels, or about $ 185, he said. That’s cheap, he added, People occupying nearby shelters paid double, or more.

“Opportunists are Making Use of This War. They Hope this War Continues So They can Keep Making Money,” Abu Salah said.

Some people have posted on social media offering tents for rent or sale. Some may be trying to make money, Palestinians told NPR, while others say they were forced to sell shelter materials in order to pay for food and water.

Mohammed Abu Salah and his family relocated multiple times before building their tent in Rafah. “These Tents are Not for Humans and There is No Dignity Here,” he said.

Without enough tarps and nylon, Palestinians have resorted to using cloth and rugs for tent walls. Others have repurposed the large tarps that cover the truck loads of aid that enter each day from Egypt and Israel.

A man with a sewing machine, working on the streets of Rafah, sewed together nylon bags used to deliver aid. The bags cost two shekels a piece, plus the cost of sewing them together, the man said.

Why More Tents aren’t Coming In

Palestinians living in the tent areas say aid workers have collected personal information and asked occupants about their needs. Some reported receiving tents or materials after a waiting period, while others say they have been waiting for weeks and have received nothing yet.

Asked how many tents the UN has disbursed, UNRWA’s Touma said “We’ve Given Some. But We Ran Out Early On, and We’re Not Getting Enough In. We should Be Getting More in.”

Bags that were used to transfer aid into Gaza are now being repurposed into tent walls.

Aid of all kinds has been in short supply since the war began. The UN reports shortages of at least 50.000 family sized tents, along with more than a million mattresses and blankets.

Some badly needed tents may be waiting just on the other side of Gaza’s borders. Earlier this month, US Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, visited the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, where aid is subjected to exhaustive inspection by Israelis before it enters Gaza.

There, he visited a warehouse full of humanitarian goods that had been rejected at Israeli inspection points, he told NPR.

Workers told him the rejected aid included tents, Van Hollen said. “The Speculation was That Some of Them had Metal Poles in Them, and Somehow Those could Be used by Hamas to Fashion Weapons, Despite the Fact that You have Thousands and Thousands of Gazans without Shelter as the Weather gets Very Cold,” he said.

The modest interior of the shelter where displaced Palestinian Yaser al-Amor is staying with his family.

Israel says it must inspect aid to keep out anything that could be appropriated by Hamas for military use. The UN and other aid groups have called for a smoother inspection process in order to allow for greater amounts of assistance to enter Gaza.

Conditions in Rafah are ‘Not Meant for Human Beings’

The living conditions have escalated concerns about health and sanitation. The tent areas are crowded, and there are no bathroom or bathing facilities. Fresh water must be purchased.

“These are Not Conditions Meant for Human Beings,” said Touma.

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“There is no water here, and toilets are another source of suffering”, said Awni Nejem, who fled to Rafah from the Nuseirat refugee camp, where Israeli airstrikes have hit repeatedly since mid November. Trash is also an issue, he said. He and his new neighbors collect garbage at a single spot, but the man who takes it away can only come by every third day.

“My Neighbor Told Me He did Not Eat for Two Days. Can you Imagine?” Nejem said. “I Understand People can Take in Suffering, but Not this Much. This is Unbearable.”

Awni Nejem and his family came to Rafah from Nuseirat, a refugee camp that has been hit repeatedly by Israeli airstrikes. “It is Very Difficult to Get A Tent. Those Who have Cash can Afford It, those Who Don’t Will Have to Suffer,” he said.

Night time temperatures have dipped into the 40’s this month. Tents are not winter proof or water proof, and the winter time rain has soaked people’s limited belongings. Tent occupants described pests, including ants and snakes.

“You can See Worms Already Here. Bugs and Lizards are Everywhere. I Killed A Snake inside the Tent the Other Day,” said Ayman Bar, who has spent 500 shekels so far on a tent to house his family. He is still hoping to find metal for a roof, he said.

Ayman Bar has 13 children. One tent for his family has cost 500 shekels so far and doesn’t yet have a quality roof. “It’s Been 10 Days since I Last had A Shower,” he said. “All I Want is to Live in Dignity and Freedom and Be Back Home, if Only It is Still Standing.”

Nearly 1 in 4 Gaza Residents don’t Have A Home to Return to

The Israeli bombardment has left much of Gaza in ruins, especially in the north, where up to 80% or more of buildings are thought to be damaged or destroyed, according to an analysis of satellite imagery by researchers at the City University of New York and Oregon State University. The UN estimates that at least 500.000 Palestinians, nearly a quarter of Gaza’s population, no longer have a home to return to.

Before the war, nearly six in 10 Palestinians were poor, and 80% were already dependent on aid, according to the World Bank. Unemployment stood at 45%. The average daily income was only $ 13 in 2022, the State Department reported.

Goats and Soda

Another layer of misery, women in Gaza struggle to find menstrual pads, running water.

And even for those with means, the struggles of displacement have been humbling.

Access to the banking system in Gaza is extremely limited. Bank locations are closed or inaccessible. ATM’s are frequently offline or out of cash. During the seven day cease fire in November, the Bank of Palestine and the UN embarked on a secret operation to move some $ 50 million worth of 200 hekel bills to alleviate the cash shortage in the South, the Financial Times reported in December.

And many Palestinians do not use the banking system, preferring instead to keep cash savings at homes that have now been abandoned or destroyed.

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Samir Salah, the man who set up his tent on a destroyed building, said he was wealthy before the war. He owned a house in Al Mughraqa, a town just South of Gaza City, along with apartments in Juhor Ad Dik and Shijaiyah.

But the bombardment arrived quickly and intensely, he said. “We had to Run Only with the Clothes We were Wearing, and I Only had 400 Shekels with Me,” or about $ 100, he said.

He doesn’t know what the condition of his homes are now. Instead, he lives in a simple shelter made of eight planks of wood and nylon. He lacks even a mattress, sleeping only on a blanket he received recently from an aid group. A cousin gave him a blanket to use to stay warm.

So, if the New York Times isn’t lying for Israel by headlining that Israel’s two main goals in Gaza are “Freeing Hostages Against [id est, versus] Destroying Hamas” as they, in accord with Israel’s propaganda, allege, then how likely is it that Israel’s main goal there is simply to slaughter Gazans? Maybe they just want to get rid of them, force them to escape, ethnic cleansing of Gaza, instead of genociding, exterminating, Gazans.

If Israel’s main goal there is instead only ethnic cleansing, to kill and or force out of Gaza all of its residents, then why would Israel be bombing so indiscriminately there and prohibiting almost all Gazans to escape from Gaza, and refusing to allow into Gaza all tents, medical supplies, clothing, and food, so as to help the residents survive the winter weather and the destruction of their homes and the continued bombing by Israel with virtually 100% US made weapons and with US guidance?

Whatever Netayahu actually intends for the Gazans, Joe Biden secretly also intends for them, as I documented on 15 December 2023, and that situation, their fundamental agreement in this matter, has continued unchanged since at least that time. So, if the New York Times is covering up for Netanyahu, then it is also covering up for Biden.

¶

Investigative historian Eric Zuesse’s latest book, AMERICA’S EMPIRE OF EVIL: Hitler’s Posthumous Victory, and Why the Social Sciences Need to Change, is about how America took over the world after World War II in order to enslave it to US and allied billionaires. Their cartels extract the world’s wealth by control of not only their ‘News’ media but the social ‘Sciences’, duping the public.
Eric Zuesse blogs at https://theduran.com/author/eric-zuesse/.

https://theduran.com/israels-goal-of-destroying-hamas-is-a-hoax-to-hide-the-genocide/

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