Limited fighting pauses in Gaza for polio vaccinations

...to avoid infection of Israeli people, while they carry on their genocide of Palestinians and shoot at and bomb NGOs convoys.

Last night I started writing an article on the recent arrest of British journalist and human rights activist Sarah Wilkinson in UK, but, since this topic has already been covered quite extensively and very well by Caitlin Johnstone and Jonathan Cook, I refer you to their articles (links on their names). Instead, in this article I will bring you a few updates from the Middle East, with an initial focus on the recent announcement that Israel and Hamas have agreed to “limited fighting pauses in Gaza to allow urgent polio vaccinations”, as reported this morning by The Guardian, citing WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who tweeted the following statement:

From X (formerly Twitter).

As he rightly points out, “the only lasting medicine is peace. The only way to fully protect all the children of Gaza is a ceasefire”. Yet, they have managed to agree only to “humanitarian pauses in specific areas and suspension of evacuation orders” to dispense polio vaccination. It is obvious why the Zionists agreed to such limited fighting pauses in Gaza and not to a full ceasefire: it is not because they are merciful, it is just that they want to minimize the risk of infection by vaccinating not only themselves, but also the Palestinians whom they are going to kill anyway, one way or another (bombing, starvation, dehydration, etc.). Plus big pharma gets a boost from these polio vaccinations! If they really cared about the health of Palestinians, they would have agreed on a ceasefire months ago - as I mentioned in the article in the link below, all hostages held by Hamas could have been returned to Israel if Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed on not entering the Gaza Strip.

Earlier today, the executive director of UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund), Catherine Russell, tweeted the following statement:

From X (formerly Twitter).

Well… considering that Israel is well known for lack of respect towards international humanitarian and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), I even doubt that the 1.2 million polio vaccination doses already delivered to Gaza (source: The Guardian) will be administered.

From The Guardian.

In fact, just three ago a “clearly marked UN humanitarian vehicle – part of a convoy that had been fully coordinated with the [Israeli Defense Forces] IDF – was struck 10 times by IDF gunfire, including with bullets targeting front windows”, as per UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric’s briefing to reporters at UN Headquarters on 28th August 2024 (source: UN News). Just look at the photo below: all shots were at head height, i.e. they were not warning shots, but they were meant to kill!

From UN News.

For this reason, the “World Food Programme (WFP) announced on Wednesday a pause in the movement of its employees in Gaza until further notice”.

As if the above was not enough, yesterday the IDF launched an airstrike on an Anera humanitarian aid convoy of medical supplies and fuel in Gaza, killing at least 5 people (source: Al Mayadeen), allegedly because some “armed assailants” were trying to hijack the leading vehicle, but the American NGO rejected IDF’s claims, as per The Guardian, which cited Anera’s Palestine country director, Sandra Rasheed, as saying… (emphasis mine)

This is a shocking incident. The convoy, which was coordinated by Anera and approved by Israeli authorities, included an Anera employee who was fortunately unharmed.

Tragically, several individuals, all employed by the transportation company we work with, were killed in the attack. They were in the first vehicle of the convoy.

It looks like hope does not find a way in Gaza… unfortunately!

And it is not the first time it happens

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Meanwhile, yesterday the Al-Quds Brigades in the West Bank announced phase two of Operation Terror of Camps, carrying out a series of major military operations including “death traps” in Jenin and Tulkarm, as reported in this Al Mayadeen article. Phase one of Operation Terror of the Camps was announced earlier this week in response to the Israeli military operation “Summer of Camps”, as I reported in the article in the link further down, where I said that the Israeli escalation in the West Bank had united all Palestinian factions, even Hamas and Fatah! This has now been confirmed in this other article by Al Mayadeen, quoting Hamas Political Bureau member Hussam Badran as saying that… (all emphasis mine)

the Resistance's operations in the West Bank have recently evolved and its strength has accumulated, which caused great concern for the Israeli occupation, affirming that this Resistance enjoys unparalleled national consensus despite all costs.

On the other side, Al Mayadeen has reported that 58% of Israeli reservists have lost confidence in the IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, quoting a study released yesterday (29th August 2024) by the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy. 49% of Israeli believe he should resign as soon as possible. Other interesting snippets (emphasis mine):

The study also found that reservists had very poor trust in the IOF high command's administration of the war in general, with 80% being unsupportive, 43% being highly dissatisfied, and 37% being slightly dissatisfied.

Only 14% were moderately supportive, and 4% were extremely supportive.

It looks like the IDF is walking towards mutiny!

Nevertheless, Halevi is not going to resign soon: according to Israeli media referenced by Al Mayadeen in the same article in the link above, the “Israeli chief of staff said in closed discussions that he would resign as soon as a temporary ceasefire is reached between "Israel" and the Palestinian Resistance in Gaza”, which, as we know, is not going to happen any time soon.

I will conclude this article with Al Mayadeen’s report on the storming of the Greek SOUNION oil tanker in the Red Sea by the Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) and subsequent detonation of explosives on 22nd August 2024: the report in the link above includes a video of the operation released by the YAF. The ship was attacked as it “had violated the ban imposed by the YAF on entering the ports of occupied Palestine”.

From Al Mayadeen.

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