Israel has closed off Gaza (again!) and stopped fuel shipments, resulting in the shutdown of electrical power in the area. At least 800,000 people are now in darkness. The catastrophe will affect hospitals, medical clinics, water wells, houses, factories, all aspects of life.
"A local health official, Dr Moaiya Hassanain, said hospitals faced a catastrophic choice between cutting 'electricity on babies in the maternity ward or heart surgery patients' or stopping operating theatres." The old, women, and children and, in fact, everybody are being punished for the attacks of Hamas.
I thought that it was an long-ago-established war crime to punish an entire population of an occupation area because of the crimes of a few people within it. The Nazis did it and we tried them for it. What's different here? Maybe there is no such thing as a war crime anymore.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7198798.stm
Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said the border closures were intended to apply pressure to the Palestinian authorities to stop militants in Gaza firing rockets at Israel.
"If they stop the rockets today, everything would go back to normal," he said.
More than 200 rockets and mortars have hit Israel from Gaza since an Israeli operation against militants on Tuesday which left 18 Palestinians dead, the military says.
Neither is innocent. Very similiar to two kids pounding each other in the back seat of a long car trip, then screaming the other hit them.
GAZA, Jan 21 (Reuters) - A U.N. agency said on Monday it would have to suspend food distribution to 860,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as early as Wednesday unless Israel eased the border blockade it imposed on the Hamas-controlled territory.
The European Union, which funds fuel for Gaza's now-idle main power plant, said it understood Israel's need to defend itself against cross-border rockets but called the closure "collective punishment" and said it should be lifted.
"There is no fuel, meaning there is no work," said Abu Mahmoud, a fisherman. "We have seen bad times before, but never worse than these days."
Gaza militants have vowed to continue their rocket fire.
http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSL21441745._CH_.2400
According to this article on CNN Isreal is claiming that there is enough fuel to generate electricty for the civilian class however Hamas is rerouting it to continue producing rockets. I think this ploy on Isreal's part will backfire and lead to the increase in rocket attacks instead of a cease to them.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said the supply of electricity had continued uninterrupted and it acknowledged a reduction in fuel supply. But it said Hamas's claims of a humanitarian crisis in the coastal strip were "greatly exaggerated."
"While the fuel supply from Israel into Gaza has indeed been reduced, due to the Hamas rocket attacks, the diversion of this fuel from domestic power generators to other uses is wholly a Hamas decision -- apparently taken due to media and propaganda considerations," a Foreign Ministry statement read.
"Noteworthy is the fact that while the Gaza population remains in the dark, the fuel generating power to the Hamas rocket manufacturing industry continues to flow unabated."
I have little sympathy for either side. They both target civilians and treat the other like shit. I wish the US would stop helping either side. All it has done is prolong the conflict.
We give arms to the Israelis; they use them to blow shit up in Gaza and the West Bank and they we pay to rebuild them. Rinse and repeat…
We don't support Israel as closely as we once did. It's true we and other NATO nations send them NATO mandated ammo but they are quite proficient at building their own weapons.
In fact they're probably better than us and the Italians at building weapons because they have constantly had a need for better weapons because of the threats they face. One of the few major suppliers we still give is in air and naval power but that's because there are very few countries who still make their own ships on both ends.
MikeyA
And there is wonderment and amazement of the opinion of the U.S. in the world community, when we help supply mutual combatants.