Israel’s blocking of humanitarian aid to Gaza is an obvious step towards resuming its genocidal campaign, with full US support, risking regional conflagration, argues John Clarke 

On 2 March, with the threat hanging over the people of Gaza that full-scale military operations against them will resume, Israel blocked the passage of food and other aid into the enclave. This brutal measure was taken to try to force Hamas to agree to the extension of the first phase of the agreement which had just expired. Having refused to move to the second phase of the ceasefire, Netanyahu has threatened that, should Hamas reject Israel’s demands, there will be ‘further consequences’. 

Hamas described Israel’s move as ‘cheap extortion, a war crime and a blatant attack.’ Egypt and Qatar, both mediators in the talks that led to the ceasefire, also condemned the curtailing of aid to the population. Egypt noted that ‘the actions violate the Fourth Geneva Convention,’ while Qatar called ‘on the international community to oblige Israel to ensure the safe and sustainable entry of humanitarian aid without obstacles.’ Other Arab countries issued statements deploring the move. 

Al Jazeera suggested that ‘Israel is again using ‘food and water as a weapon of war for political gain.’ It added that when ‘it comes to water, for example, 80 percent of Gaza’s reservoirs have been completely destroyed along with the desalination infrastructure. So there is full reliance on the trucks that are carrying water supplies.’ The International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies noted that without ‘access to aid, people’s lives are on a knife-edge once again.’ 

Israeli extortion 

Israel is using this form of extortion to try to avoid agreed-upon terms around the release of Israelis held captive in Gaza. It claims that a new US proposal would see half the captives released at the outset and the rest, once a permanent ceasefire had been negotiated. Hamas has rejected this ‘saying it would only release captives according to the original terms of the agreement, which stipulated that Israeli forces would permanently withdraw from Gaza and bring an end to the war.’ 

The US plan that Netanyahu refers to is the ‘Witkoff proposal,’ as he has described it. This is supposed to have come from Trump’s Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff. The White House hasn’t actually confirmed this but, as Time strikingly puts it, it has made clear that it ‘supports whatever action Israel takes.’ 

Middle East Monitor confirms that this is the approach being taken by the Trump administration. It quotes National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes, who baldly asserted that ‘Israel has negotiated in good faith since the beginning of this administration to ensure the release of hostages,’ adding that: ‘We will support their decision on next steps given Hamas has indicated it’s no longer interested in a negotiated ceasefire.’ 

The US, as Israel’s main political sponsor and arms supplier, has now made its support unconditional when it comes to how the ceasefire is modified or revoked. It is very clear, moreover, that the Trump administration is ready to back Israel if it resumes full-scale military aggression in Gaza, even to the extent of assisting in an ethnic-cleansing project. 

It was Trump himself who put forward a notorious plan to drive the people of Gaza out to neighbouring countries and turn the Strip into a luxury resort. DW In Focus reports that Trump has now issued a video that ‘featured Trump’s apparent vision for the future of the Gaza Strip. This includes a huge golden Trump statue, Elon Musk and Palestinian children throwing dollar bills into the air and Trump himself lounging bare chested, at a beach resort, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his side. An accompanying soundtrack contains the lyrics, “No more tunnels, no more fear, Trump Gaza is finally here”.’ 

The ‘Riviera on the Mediterranean’ may be a fantasy but the readiness of the US to support Israel’s drive to complete its colonial project is all too real. Netanyahu calculates that he can force the extension of the first phase of the ceasefire and obtain the release of the rest of the captives without honouring commitments on troop withdrawal. If this succeeds, he will continue the attack on Gaza but, should Hamas refuse, he will feel that he has an adequate pretext to a return to genocidal slaughter anyway. The Trump administration will accept such a course of action and continue to provide the weapons. 

Mondoweiss has argued that the ‘Trump White House has no substantive policy for Gaza or for Palestine. Israel is filling that vacuum with perpetual war.’ Unable to eradicate the armed resistance in Gaza or to transfer its population, Netanyahu is ready to continue the assault for as long as possible. As Al Jazeera has argued, ‘the inherently long-term nature of Israel’s genocidal policy in Gaza means that any ceasefire is inevitably temporary.’ 

Meanwhile, the drive to weaken Palestinian resistance and take more land is being ruthlessly pursued in the West Bank. The Times of Israel reported that over 40,000 residents of the West Bank have been forced to flee their homes and this represents ‘the largest displacement in the territory since the Six Day War in 1967.’ The genocide in Gaza has been temporarily halted but the pursuit of ethnic cleansing is being widened dramatically. 

Even as Israel continues its onslaught on the Palestinians, it maintains its belligerent regional role. Attacks on Syria continue, with air strikes being conducted throughout the southern part of the country. The resumption of fighting in Lebanon remains a distinct possibility and, on 4 March, Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, even raised the possibility of conflict with the compliant Egyptian regime. He sternly warned that ‘we will not allow them [the Egyptians] to violate the peace agreement. We will not allow them to violate infrastructure. We are dealing with this, but the agreement exists.’ 

Regional threat 

The Netanyahu government is enjoying a free hand to pursue its objectives but its strategy of perpetual war, as dreadful as the immediate implications are for the Palestinians, has the most disastrous regional implications. Whatever genocidal extremes are resorted to, the forced removal of millions of Palestinians is an unrealistic goal and, even if it were obtained, the results would be one of catastrophic political and social instability. 

In this situation, even if they would prefer to find an accommodation with Israel, Arab leaders know that their collusion in a second Nakba would unleash such anger within the populations they rule over that their regimes would be threatened. On 4 March, an emergency Arab League summit was convened in Cairo, with the objective of advancing an alternative to Trump’s luxury resort plan for Gaza. It is unlikely that Israel or the US will agree to this but it does show that hopes for a solution in the form of mass displacement are not grounded in reality. 

That Israel will break the Gaza ceasefire is unfortunately very likely indeed. That it will pursue its goal of completing its colonial project and pose a dire threat to peace in the region is inevitable. The Trump administration, full of diehard supporters of the Zionist project, sees Israel as an indispensable strategic asset and it is allowing Israel to act as it chooses. The ‘America First’ approach that led to such a sharp turn in the case of Ukraine and dealings with the European powers, isn’t likely to emerge in the foreseeable future, when it comes to support for Israel. 

That being said, with the US playing the key enabling role, Israel continues to follow a course that is dangerous in the extreme. It is engaged in an ever-expanding round of military aggression with no realistic objectives in place. As the America First approach shatters long-established alliances and strains international relations to breaking point, the US’s regional enforcer in the Middle East is playing a very dangerous game indeed.