Weekly Israel-Hamas war megathread - week of March 4

Washington has approved more than 100 separate military sales to Israel since its invasion of Gaza, even as officials complain Israeli leaders have not done enough to protect civilians (Washington Post)

The United States has quietly approved and delivered more than 100 separate foreign military sales to Israel since the Gaza war began Oct. 7, amounting to thousands of precision-guided munitions, small-diameter bombs, bunker busters, small arms and other lethal aid, U.S. officials told members of Congress in a recent classified briefing.

The triple-digit figure, which has not been previously reported, is the latest indication of Washington’s extensive involvement in the polarizing five-month conflict even as top U.S. officials and lawmakers increasingly express deep reservations about Israel’s military tactics in a campaign that has killed more than 30,000 people, according to Gaza’s health authorities.

Only two approved foreign military sales to Israel have been made public since the start of conflict: $106 million worth of tank ammunition and $147.5 million of components needed to make 155 mm shells. Those sales invited public scrutiny because the Biden administration bypassed Congress to approve the packages by invoking an emergency authority.

But in the case of the 100 other transactions, known in government-speak as Foreign Military Sales or FMS, the weapons transfers were processed without any public debate because each fell under a specific dollar amount that requires the executive branch to individually notify Congress, according to U.S. officials and lawmakers who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military matter.

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The dearth of publicly available information about U.S. arms sales to Israel leaves unclear how many of the most recent transfers amount to the routine supply of U.S. security assistance to Israel as opposed to the rapid replenishing of munitions as a result of its bombardment of Gaza.

U.S. to Build Pier to Allow Aid Into Gaza by Sea

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/07/world/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news?smid=nytcore-android-share

U.S. announces ‘emergency mission’ port plan, as cease-fire hopes fade (Washington Post)

The Gaza port announcement came as a senior administration official declined to predict whether ongoing cease-fire and hostage-release negotiations would succeed. The terms of a provisional deal, which the Biden administration says Israel has agreed to, include a six-week cease-fire and the release of the women, children, sick and elderly held captive by Hamas, including some Israeli soldiers. Some of the hostages are believed to be dead and the provisional deal includes the return of their bodies. During a pause in the fighting late last year, Hamas exchanged more than 100 hostages for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

The official said the offer on the table before Hamas also includes the repositioning of Israeli forces in Gaza away from urban areas, allowing residents of northern Gaza to return home, and massively increasing the flow of humanitarian assistance. “All of that stuff has been negotiated,” the official said. The United States and Israel say the ball is now in Hamas’s court.

A Hamas official told The Washington Post that the group has rejected Israel’s offer of a six-week truce while it keeps troops in Gaza and receives the return of hostages. “We want a permanent cease-fire, and we want the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss ongoing negotiations. A cease-fire that lasts only through Ramadan and the release of the hostages, he said, would leave Gazans without a guarantee for protection after it ended.

U.S. officials have said they anticipate a three-phase deal, with additional cease-fires — and ultimately an end to the war — to be negotiated during the first phase. Israel has said it intends to return to its mission of wiping out Hamas in Rafah as soon as it gets its hostages back.

Five killed and 10 injured in Gaza aid airdrop when parachute fails to open (The Guardian)

Witnesses said the accident happened on Friday morning near the coastal refugee camp known as al-Shati, one of the most devastated parts of Gaza, after a parachute attached to the pallet failed to deploy properly and the parcel fell on a group of men, teenagers and younger children hoping to obtain food and other supplies.

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The US and Jordan are among the countries to have carried out airdrops in northern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people are facing dire conditions after more than five months of war.

More about that in this article:

US makes second Gaza aid airdrop, in joint operation with Jordan and Egypt (The Times of Israel)

The United States military, in coordination with Jordan, Egypt and France, airdropped more than 36,000 meals into northern Gaza on Tuesday — the second such delivery of aid that Washington has led since Saturday, when the US dropped some 38,000 meals in the war-torn Palestinian enclave.

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“US Central Command and the Royal Jordanian Air Force conducted a combined humanitarian assistance airdrop into Northern Gaza on March 5, 2024, at 2:30 p.m. (Gaza time) to provide essential relief to civilians affected by the ongoing conflict,” the military command said in a statement Tuesday.

And about the sea route:

The United Arab Emirates will finance the aid shipment from Cyprus where the aid will be subject to inspection by Israeli officials before it sails off to the Gaza coast.

The goal is for the shipment to arrive in Gaza before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins around March 10, according to Channel 13, which citing anonymous Israeli officials.

The idea for a marine humanitarian corridor has been floated for years but never got off the ground due to Israeli reticence and concerns that the port in Gaza isn’t equipped to accept aid en masse.

The US made a renewed push for a marine humanitarian corridor to be established following last week’s deadly mass-casualty incident where dozens of Palestinians were killed trying to collect aid in northern Gaza, which has been largely cut off from humanitarian assistance.

Apparently Israel is trying to blame others for delays in shipments:

Israel has also said it is prepared to let in more aid to Gaza through the two checkpoints on the southern edge of the territory it has permitted to open, and has pointed the finger at the UN and other aid agencies for failing to distribute it more widely.

Israel, which checks all trucks entering Gaza from both crossings, has blamed the UN for not delivering the aid fast enough after they are cleared, and for leading to a general fall-off in deliveries over the past month.

The UN has said it is becoming more difficult to distribute aid inside the enclave amid a breakdown of civil administration and law and order. The flow of aid from Egypt has almost dried up in the past two weeks, and a collapse in security has made it increasingly difficult to distribute the food that does get through, according to UN data and officials.

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An Israeli official told The Times of Israel on Tuesday that Israel has begun testing bringing in aid through the border between Israel and northern Gaza. Until now, all aid has been checked at Kerem Shalom, at Gaza’s southern end, then sent in through the crossing there or through the Egyptian-controlled Rafah crossing.

Getting trucks safely into the northern Gaza Strip is a priority for Israel, the official explained, and though the number of trucks entering the Strip from the south reached new highs this week, almost all have been cleaned out before they make it to the north.

Cyprus to Gaza humanitarian corridor to open soon