Desperately Needed Fauxtilla Humanitarian Aid blocked by Hamas

Uhm…

Aren’t people starving in Gaza? How can the people managing The World’s Most Desperate Human Rights Disaster ™ deny their people the desperately needed humanitarian aid they so badly need? CNN reports that Hamas refused delivery of 21 truckloads of aid which included “expired medications, clothing, blankets, some medical equipment and toys”.

A spokesperson from COGAT, the organization that coordinates the delivery of goods into Gaza explained a little about what it is that COGAT does, supervising the delivery of 15-20 truckloads of goods a day including food, construction material (including cement), supplies for UNWRA sponsored summer camps etc. The current shipment of aid from the flotilla includes 100 electric mini-scooters for the elderly and handicapped which were unpacked first so as to prevent damage. He noted that the flotilla is estimated to have 70-80 truckloads of aid but it is badly packaged and loaded. On one of the boats the goods were just thrown in to the cargo holds. He observed that the aid included expired medicine as well as medicine set to expire in July. Also included as aid were used shoes and bundles of presumably used clothing.

The Jerusalem Post reports that:

Hamas refused on Wednesday to allow the aid equipment that was captured by the IDF aboard the flotilla ships earlier this week to enter the Gaza Strip… “We refuse to receive the humanitarian aid until all those who were detained aboard the ships are released,” said Ahmed Kurd, Minister for Social Welfare in the Hamas government said. “We also insist that the equipment be delivered in its entirety.” … Kurd said that Israel’s decision to allow a number of wheelchairs to be delivered to the Gaza Strip was a “deception,” claiming that the batteries that operate them had been removed, making them useless.

Hamas also claims that this delivery of aid is merely a smokescreen aimed at diverting attention from the deaths on the fauxtilla.

Oops! Did I just say fauxtilla? Yes I did. It’s clear that this was all a very well executed publicity stunt. For Hamas, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow isn’t aid desperately needed to alleviate The World’s Most Desperate Human Rights Disaster ™ but rather an end to the blockade which would allow for the unimpeded delivery of weapons from Iran. This would allow Hamas to further consolidate its control of Gaza and allow it to have the supplies needed to continue to attack Israel.