Israeli police block Gaza aid convoy organized by Jewish, Arab activists

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli police blocked a humanitarian aid convoy organized by Jews and Arabs for the blockaded Gaza Strip.

''We are 10 minutes from the borders with Gaza. We have a truck full of food for the people starving in Gaza. The police and the army won't let us get in,'' Standing Together movement, which comprises Jewish and Arab activists, said in a video statement on X.

''We are staying here. We will keep holding on until they will let us in because there is no reason to let people starve to death in Gaza.”

Another statement by the grassroots movement said the Gaza war and starving the elderly, children, women, and the sick “serve no one.”

“It only brings suffering and death to us all,” it added.

Israel has continued its deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip, now in its 153rd day, following an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, which Tel Aviv said killed nearly 1,200 people.

At least 30,800 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 73,000 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

Israeli right-wing groups have staged several protests in recent weeks to block the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

About 85% of Gazans have been displaced by the Israeli onslaught amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul