In the most recent disruption to humanitarian relief for the war-torn Palestinian territory, right-wing Israeli protesters obstructed vehicles transporting food supplies to Gaza on Monday. The trucks were assaulted by an Israeli group designated as “Tsav 9” at the Tarqumiya checkpoint, which serves as a border crossing from the Israeli-occupied West Bank into Israel to the west of the city of Hebron.
In an interview with CBS News on Tuesday, Sapir Sluzker Amran, an Israeli peace activist who witnessed the incident and opposed the demonstrators, stated that the group responsible for halting the trucks and subsequently strewing the food on the ground was primarily composed of Israeli settlers and extremists.
“Immigrants comprised the overwhelming majority.” “They are expatriates in the local communities; they also reside in the area,” she clarified. “They are all united by their membership in right-wing Zionist organizations.” “Stream religious nationalism,” as we term it,
In the photographs and videos that Amran captured and provided to CBS News, protesters are observed scaling an aid vehicle while discarding food packages to the side of the road. Demonstrators are seen unloading substantial flour containers from the vehicles in additional photographs.
Aid attacks are classified as “an unmitigated atrocity” by the United States.
At the White House on Monday, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan issued a condemnation of the assault during a media briefing.
He declared, “The fact that individuals are plundering and assaulting these humanitarian convoys as they travel from Jordan to Gaza is an unmitigated abhorrence.” “We are in the process of evaluating the available response instruments and expressing our apprehensions to the most senior officials within the Israeli government.” We categorically declare that we find it entirely and utterly unacceptable.
David Cameron, the British foreign minister, also condemned the assault in a social media post and urged Israel to “hold all perpetrators accountable and do more to allow aid in.” He also stated that he would communicate his apprehensions to the Israeli government in relation to the incident.
Who was responsible for the ambush on the assistance convoy?
According to the Times of Israel newspaper, Tsav 9 is “a right-wing organization that is opposed to the deployment of aid to Gaza while hostages are still being held.”
The group uploaded video and images of the assault on the aid convoy to its X account on Monday. The message, which is in Hebrew, asserts that the group’s objective is to suspend humanitarian assistance to Gaza until all Israeli detainees held in Palestinian territory are liberated.
The organization’s X account states that no aid will be transferred until the final abductee returns.
“They started a few months ago, they raise a significant amount of money through fundraising, and they have a significant number of government supporters,” Amran told CBS News. He also mentioned that Israeli military and police officials frequently inform the extremists about humanitarian aid convoys.
“They have prior knowledge of the vehicles’ arrival schedules and share this information on social media platforms, WhatsApp groups, and their own groups, encouraging individuals to participate and disrupt the aid,” she explained.
Amran alleged that on Monday, a member of the group struck her while she was attempting to prevent the assault on the aid trucks. She stated that the Israel Defense Forces personnel who were present at the site provided only minimal assistance.
She stated, “I was assaulted by a settler in the presence of an IDF soldier who was seated and standing in close proximity to us, possibly less than a meter away. I observed that he attacked me severely.” “He was essentially relegated to the periphery and shielded by the IDF.”
According to the Israel Police, an investigation into the assault on the aid convoy was currently underway as of Monday, and “multiple perpetrators” had been apprehended.
In response to a request for immediate assistance from CBS News, the Israeli agency COGAT, which is responsible for the implementation of policy in the Palestinian territories, declined to provide any commentary on the incident in the West Bank.
Eight Israeli strikes have targeted aid personnel or sites, according to a rights organization.
The assault underscored the dangers of humanitarian assistance work for Palestinians amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Human Rights Watch, an American organization, released a report on Tuesday that accused the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of orchestrating at least eight assaults on Gazan facilities and aid convoys since the conflict commenced with Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel on October 7.
“Israeli authorities did not provide any of the relief organizations with advance warnings prior to the strikes,” the group stated in a news release. The strikes resulted in the deaths or injuries of at least 31 aid workers and their companions.
In Rafah, a United Nations employee was murdered.
In the interim, the United Nations announced on Monday that a member of its security personnel was killed in an incident in Rafah, a city located in southern Gaza.
On Monday, a spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres released the following statement: “The Secretary-General was deeply saddened to learn of the death of a United Nations Department of Safety and Security (DSS) staff member and the injury of another DSS staff member who was involved in a collision with their UN vehicle while en route to the European Hospital in Rafah.”
The United Nations did not provide a specific description of the object that was believed to have struck the vehicle. However, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) issued a statement to CBS News indicating that an investigation was currently underway.
Two employees of the UNDSS organization sustained injuries in the Rafah region today, according to a communication received. The Israeli military stated that the vehicle was impacted in an area designated as an active combat zone, and that it had not been informed of the vehicle’s route. This information was based on an initial investigation.
