For several days, extremist settlers have been ransacking numerous humanitarian aid convoys coming from Jordan and heading towards the Gaza Strip. New example on Friday May 17, when a truck driver and several Israeli soldiers were injured in the West Bank by “ dozens of Israeli civilians “, who set the truck on fire, thinking it was transporting food to Gaza, according to the Israeli army. A left-wing activist, who tried to document the scene, was beaten.
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Dozens of extremist settlers, most of them very young, ransack a load of food on a truck. One of them proudly films himself, calling on everyone to block humanitarian aid for Gaza. Informed on social networks of this action, Sapir Slusker Amran, a human rights activist, came to document the scene, reports our special correspondent in Jerusalem, Murielle Paradon.
“ When I saw them, standing on the truck, ripping open bags of sugar with knives and axes, spilling everything on the ground while laughing, happy with themselves, I climbed on the truck and tried to chase them away. . A settler slapped me very hard, in front of a soldier who was nearby and who saw everything. »
The events took place near Kokhav Hashahar, an Israeli colony in the region called Benyamin by the Israelis and which is located in the West Bank, Palestinian territory that Israel has occupied since 1967. The incident took place about forty kilometers to the west of the Jordanian border.
These Israeli extremists can act with complete impunity, denounces Sapir, because they feel protected: “ This is pure hatred, revenge and racism. But they know that they are protected, because they are part of the political parties that are in government at the moment. »
A few days ago, several ministers joined a far-right demonstration to call for repopulating Gaza and driving Palestinians from their lands.
Multiple incidents, Israeli soldiers often passive
On Monday May 13, dozens of people – identified by Israeli media as members of a radical collective opposed to aid to Gaza – had already blocked aid trucks and ransacked their contents. The trucks were attacked in Israel, shortly after the Tarqumiya crossing point with the West Bank and near the Israeli village of Shekef.
In images posted on social networks, we see Israeli soldiers passive in the face of the ransacking of aid.
This new incident on Friday comes a few hours after the army announced on Thursday May 16 that the already existing crossing points of Tarqumiya and Bitounia, “ now also function as crossing points for aid inspection » intended for the Gaza Strip.
Before this incident, two aid convoys sent on May 1 by Jordan, then another convoy of 35 trucks sent on May 7, were attacked in the West Bank by ” Israeli extremists », denounced the Jordanian authorities. This without specifying where these convoys had been blocked.
The entry of humanitarian aid, strictly controlled by the Israeli authorities and which was already arriving in trickles, is now largely hampered at the two main crossing points – Kerem Shalom from Israel and Rafah from Egypt. This has been going on for about ten days and the beginning of Israeli operations in the south of the territory.
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