Water purifiers, medical supplies and tent poles are among items Israel has blocked from entering Gaza on aid trucks, according to an Egyptian Red Crescent document seen by Reuters and sources in Gaza, but Israel denied blocking any such items.
Under a policy that long pre-dates the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and ensuing war in Gaza, Israel inspects trucks bound for the Palestinian enclave to stop any items it considers to have potential “dual use” - civilian or military.
But the issue of which items do or don’t get through has become more urgent and contested as the war has unfolded. The conflict has displaced most of Gaza’s population and caused acute shortages of food, water, medicines and other basic necessities.
The Egyptian Red Crescent document, which dates back to mid-December, says 1,200 water purifiers, 100 oxygen cylinders, one oxygen generator, 1,000 solar-powered items, 24 power generators and 418 medical supplies had been blocked since the war started.
COGAT, an Israeli Defence Ministry agency that coordinates aid deliveries with the United Nations and humanitarian groups, said this was not true.
“We are not refusing anything that is underneath four headlines: food, water, medical supplies and shelters. All of those are entering every day,” said Colonel Elad Goren of COGAT during a news briefing on Friday.
Withholding poles but sending tents means that Israel can say they allowed shelters to get through … even if they’re useless without tent poles.
Lies are still lies when they’re of omission vs outright false info.
In Rafah, inside Gaza, Reuters reporters saw a pile of what looked like thick canvas tents, discarded on the floor in a corner of the Kuwait Hospital. This was because they had been delivered without poles, according to Dr Suhaib al-Hams, chairman of the hospital’s board of directors.
A Gaza social affairs ministry official said he was aware of about 150 tents arriving without poles, out of 30 trucks loaded with tents.