And this is still worked out to be less than what is required.
Irrelavent.
Point is that the UN is not referring to Gazan government(Hamas) imported goods but to the tons of humanitarian aid inserted by the UN.
I don't think that there was such a need to begin with in Gaza for the huge amount of humanitarian aid (60,000 tons per week), but that simply means that it's not about what Gazans can afford but about how much does the UN push into the strip.
And whether the Geneva Conventions apply or not – it’s a collective punishment of the ordinary Gazans. Hamas gets what it wants through the tunnels, Israel lets in what it decides is the bare minimum and meantime ordinary Gazans are collectively punished by Hamas and the Israeli Govt.
On top of that, Hamas gets weapons through the tunnels – the point of the sea and border blockade does little to prevent Hamas getting weapons through and only the citizens are really affected.
I’ve repeated this umpteen times on this thread.
Absolutely false.
1) What Hamas brings through the tunnels is nothing in comparison to what it'd bring into the Strip if there was no blockade on it.
2) Hamas cannot get into and outside of Israel through the tunnels, they are connected to Egypt not to Israel, hence your point is invalid.
I don’t recall you asking me for such before.
Yes, my mistake, I have actually called for it earlier but has edited it out through the writing of that comment.
If you really wanted to – the links to the UN and other food / humanitarian agencies have been posted earlier. I even remember a “save the children” link posted by Alexa to you directly.
Save the children is not an unbiased organization and it does not provide the details that I'm looking after.
Although we can guess that the amount is about 60,000 tons per week, since that's the UN definition of "what's needed". (X4 Israeli aid amount)
Sorry but you yourself posted a report / link on Hamas tunnels.
Exactly which report that I have apparently posted are you referring to, and what is your point?
You can’t have it both ways - Hamas can get in and out easily and when it wants already – through the tunnels. The only people really blocked are the Gazan population. The blockade is simply for domestic Israeli voting consumption.
Hamas members cannot get into Israel through the tunnels. Please strengthten your knowledge about the Gazan tunnels.
As the pro-Govt posters have helpfully pointed out, Hamas has launched thousands of rockets into Israel, the blockade hasn’t stopped this.
Hamas has launched way more rockets before the blockade than it did before.
Hamas' rockets capabilities are not gone, but they were dramatically decreased.
What they’re saying is that Gilad Shalit was not the original reason for the blockade. Seems the reason is what’s called a “moveable feast” for Israel.
Israel is really interested in the release of its soldier that has already been kept in Hamas' hands for 4 years, without even letting the Red Cross check on him.
Therefore Israel agrees to compromise and lift the blockade in return to the release of Gilad Shalit.
Yes I remember that – I agreed the Afghanistan air strike but that was a different case as the fuel had been stolen and the Afghan driver killed by the insurgents.
To agree your scenario - Israel would allow goods in and Hamas kill the distributors and then steal the goods and then while Hamas and Gazan looters were standing around with their stolen property an Israeli air strike would hit them and kill them. I’d support Israel there.
I didn't make an analogy chaos, I gave an example of another militant organization doing the same thing Hamas does. (Stealing goods and then selling them to the population)
It's the major source of income for Hamas and cutting it is a devestating blow to the terror financing in the Gaza Strip.
This isn’t the case – as you yourself posted – Israel allowed the cargo in once the ships docked at Ashdod. Besides – I believe the UN would be the distributors. There are also importers who bring in what’s allowed – if Hamas killed them or targeted them the imports would stop entirely and that would solve Israel’s problem – importers would stop and the Gazan citizens would be starved to death.
Hamas has already been stealing from the UNRWA in the past.
I’m also afraid your dismissal of Gisha’s case is far too lightweight to convince me otherwise.
Is there another specific point made by them that you'd like me to counter?
There is no military advantage (as your own link on the Hamas tunnels showed)
Again, what link?
and the punishment is excessive when you look at the amount of aid required vs what is allowed in.
Necessities are allowed in.
The fact that Israel calculates the required calories proves that it takes care to prevent a humanitarian crisis in the strip.
