Two Fatal Shootings in Gaza Over the Weekend
Jingwei Zhao
Over the past weekend, there have been two fatal shootings in Gaza. On Saturday, near an Israeli food camp, soldiers started shooting at Palestinian citizens. On Sunday, Israeli soldiers opened fire on civilians assembling at a U.N. convoy. Both of these shooting incidents have revealed the dangers and risks of food distribution in Gaza for Palestinians.
In the Saturday shooting, civilians were swarming food distribution places controlled by Israeli private contractors in areas the nation controlled. The Israelis most likely interpreted these actions as invading their territory, thus unleashing gunfire.
As for the shooting on Sunday, Palestinians were rushing towards a U.N. convoy of food trucks in Hamas-controlled areas. While Palestinians were hoping for aid, Israelis rapidly unloaded their firearms. There have been mixed opinions regarding the incident. Supporters of Israel claimed the Sunday shooting highlighted the failures of the U.N. system. Those backing the U.N. argued that the Saturday shooting made it clear that the Israeli system had issues.
Israel argues that it is essential for food distribution sites to be controlled by Hamas so that stealing supplies can be prevented. That approach has been criticized since it forces starving civilians to take an even bigger risk of crossing the Israeli military lines for food. However, both approaches have their flaws.
Rather than using peaceful forms of crowd control, the Israeli military chose to use a militant method to subdue the crowd. Israel also implemented an 80-day blockade from March to May, leading to civilians suffering from starvation as food became scarce. Some civilians have decided that they would rather risk death by gunfire than to starve to death, which is why they have been crossing Israel military lines to take food.
After nearly two years of war, most of Gaza has no functional government. Hamas has not been enforcing laws or providing social services in the majority of its territory. Israel has conquered Hamas, as they have destroyed various Hamas government buildings and controls most of the land. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has continuously refused to create a transitional government system.
Gaza aid systems expert Shira Efron at the Israel Policy Forum said, “There’s a blame game and everyone is looking at the technical details and about how the aid is distributed. But the bigger issue is the lawlessness and the breakdown of governance. After 22 months of war, it’s anarchy in Gaza. And without addressing the core issue of what should happen next in Gaza, there won’t be a solution.” Both sides of the war have been struggling with many issues. For example, providing aid has been challenging, which is why the shootings occured. Efron explains that unless the problems regarding the law and government get resolved, the war will go on.
Addressing the criticism, Mr. Netanyahu explained that postwar plans will only occur if Hamas is completely defeated. However, the Israeli Prime Minister’s plan faces a multitude of criticism, as others argue that it is more difficult to achieve victory against Hamas without a replacement plan. With aid distribution leading to gunfire, and starving civilians risking death for food, the Gaza situation remains bleak. Unless the main problems of the war, such as the “breakdown of governance” and lack of law enforcement, are resolved, a solution will not occur.
