The private Hebrew Channel 12 revealed today, Saturday, that Tel Aviv is considering significantly reducing humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip with the beginning of the term of US President-elect Donald Trump, in light of the ongoing Israeli genocide for more than 15 months. Famine has worsened in most areas of the Gaza Strip due to the imposed Israeli siege, especially in the northern governorate, following the persistence of genocide and starvation to force citizens to move south.

"So far, Israel has determined aid according to its commitment to (outgoing US President Joe) Biden, but this may change in the coming weeks, after Trump returns to the White House on January 20," the channel said in a report. The Hebrew channel quoted an unnamed Israeli political official as saying, "We doubt that the amount of aid being brought into the Gaza Strip today is similar to that which will be brought in under the Trump administration."

“If it is decided (to cut aid to Gaza), it will be done in coordination with the new administration in the United States,” the official added. The Israeli official claimed that “if the current situation continues, Hamas will remain in power.” A leading organization that monitors food crises around the world withdrew a new report last month warning of an impending famine in northern Gaza due to “a near-total Israeli blockade,” after the United States asked it to withdraw the report, according to U.S. officials who spoke to the Associated Press.

Since tightening its blockade on the Gaza Strip and launching its aggression against the Palestinians there, Israel has been obstructing the entry of various supplies into the Strip, including life-saving supplies, especially food and medicine. This has prompted UN agencies and international organizations to warn on numerous occasions of the consequences of hunger in various areas of the Strip, in addition to warning of an “inevitable famine” in the north, which is isolated from the center and south.

Last November, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, predicted that “a famine was likely” in the northern Gaza Strip, which is isolated from the center and south, especially since the governorate “is witnessing genocide and ethnic cleansing by Israel.” Lazzarini indicated in a statement at the time that this “unfortunately comes as no surprise,” stressing that Israel “used hunger as a weapon” during its ongoing war on the Gaza Strip. The UN official explained that “people in the Gaza Strip are being deprived of basic necessities, including food to survive,” explaining that the aid entering the Gaza Strip is not sufficient, averaging just over 30 trucks per day, which represents only about 6% of the Palestinians’ daily needs.

Source: (Anatolia, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed)