Haaretz newspaper said on Monday that the Israeli army does not want to bring humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip itself, but rather proposes transferring responsibility to Palestinian businessmen. However, sources told the New York Times that the flour massacre was carried out by the occupation forces despite coordination with Palestinian merchants, claiming to provide security.

This comes after repeated Israeli targeting of aid trucks and the crowds waiting around them, coinciding with the continuation of complex negotiations in Cairo, where Israel refused to send its delegation unless the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) submitted to its conditions, in what appears to be an attempt by the occupation to turn humanitarian aid into a pressure card.

“The Nabulsi Roundabout incident will be repeated.”

According to Haaretz newspaper, senior Israeli army officials believe that if the Israeli political level does not decide who is responsible for providing humanitarian aid to the residents of the Gaza Strip, incidents similar to those that occurred in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday will be repeated, in reference to the flour massacre at a roundabout. Nabulsi, north of the Gaza Strip.

According to the officials quoted by the newspaper, the Israeli army proposes to bring aid in by sea, with Palestinian merchants in the Gaza Strip assuming responsibility, after imposing severe measures that prevent and hinder the entry of aid through the Rafah crossing, in addition to curtailing the role of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was Responsible for the aid distribution file in Gaza.

Senior Israeli army officials warned that the failure of the political level to determine who would bear responsibility for distributing aid could lead to damage to what they called “international legitimacy” for the continued fighting in the Gaza Strip by the United States and the international community as a whole, amid increasing international condemnation of the Israeli army’s deliberate targeting of aid trucks. .

Refusing to cooperate with Israel

The Israeli army refuses to distribute humanitarian aid, saying that this “will expose its soldiers to danger,” and demands a civilian body that will be responsible - among other things - for distributing aid.

This is consistent with the vision of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed in the post-war document, which includes closing UNRWA, and having “local elements with administrative experience” responsible for civil administration and public order in Gaza.

In this regard, the tribes in the Gaza Strip categorically refused to cooperate with Israel to govern the territories and manage the distribution of aid.

For his part, Prime Minister of the Palestinian caretaker government, Muhammad Shtayyeh, praised the refusal of the tribes in the Gaza Strip to cooperate with Israel to govern the territories and manage the distribution of aid.

He stressed that Israel should allow international institutions to work throughout the Gaza Strip, especially in the north, and allow aid to be delivered through United Nations institutions and other relevant institutions.

The Israeli army organized the massacre

In the context of the Israeli army’s demand that Palestinian businessmen bear responsibility for distributing aid in Gaza to avoid incidents similar to what happened at the Nabulsi Roundabout, the New York Times revealed that the Israeli army itself organized the aid convoys it targeted at the Nabulsi Roundabout, after it claimed - in communication with Palestinian merchants - that it would protect them.

The newspaper quoted two Palestinian merchants as saying that Israeli officials contacted several businessmen in Gaza and asked them to help organize aid convoys to the north, while Israel would provide “security.”

One Palestinian trader said he helped coordinate trucks in a convoy on Thursday, after an Israeli officer asked him about 10 days ago to organize aid trucks to northern Gaza.

Meanwhile, eyewitnesses and doctors confirmed that the Israeli army deliberately opened fire on the Palestinians who were trying to obtain food supplies at the Nabulsi roundabout, killing them and wounding a number of them, in a massacre that resulted in hundreds of martyrs and wounded.

Biden is angry

Israeli officials believe that preventing the entry of aid and imposing famine on the residents of the Gaza Strip will push Hamas to release the Israeli detainees, despite the US administration’s demands for aid to enter Gaza and protect it, especially in the northern Gaza Strip.

In this context, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth quoted media reports that US President Joe Biden refused to speak with Netanyahu after targeting civilians waiting for aid at the Nabulsi roundabout.

The newspaper considered that this indicates Biden’s anger at Netanyahu, who is “not committed to protecting” the transit of aid.

However, Netanyahu's office denied media reports that Biden refused to speak with the Israeli Prime Minister.

While negotiations continue to reach a deal in which Hamas demands the entry of 500 aid trucks daily into the Gaza Strip, Israel allowed some countries to airdrop aid - some of which fell at sea and some of which was transported by the wind to the settlements surrounding Gaza - in what appears to be an attempt by Israel to reduce the volume of international criticism of Tel Aviv by adopting a starvation policy.