The day began with the cynical mockery of the 20 trucks of humanitarian aid that Israel allowed into Gaza. Israeli forces confirmed their murderous intentions to invade Gaza and leaders from several countries gathered in Cairo to try to save face, while thousands and thousands mobilized around the world in support of Palestine.
Saturday, October 21
The Israeli army bombed the city of Rafah at the time of the arrival of humanitarian aid. The Rafah crossing was closed after only 20 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Red Crescent stated: “The arrival of 20 trucks through the Rafah crossing is not enough for the needs of the Strip and will not change the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.”
UN agencies have issued a statement detailing some of the humanitarian needs in Gaza after a “first, but limited, shipment” was allowed to pass through the Rafah crossing. The statement from UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, WFP and WHO says that the people of Gaza “are being denied their right to protection, food, water and medical care.” It also warned that “vulnerable people are most at risk and children are dying at an alarming rate.”
Here are some of the details of the situation in Gaza, according to the UN statement: Health facilities are expected to run out of the limited amounts of fuel they have sourced locally “in the next day or so”; Gaza’s water production capacity is currently at “5 percent of normal levels”; Food stocks in stores are “almost depleted,” while “previously stored humanitarian supplies have already been depleted.” The statement also warned that mortality rates could soon “skyrocket” due to disease outbreaks and a “lack of health capacity.”
Amid the humanitarian crisis, Israel bombed two popular restaurants in the Nuseirat market, killing dozens of people.
They also bombed the Al-Ansar mosque in Jenin, West Bank.
One of Gaza’s most talented feminist poets and novelists, Heba Abu Nada, author of the novel Oxygen is not for the dead, died in a bombing.
Her last poem, written yesterday before being murdered in the midst of Israel’s genocide against Palestine: “The night in the city is dark, except for the glow of the missiles; silent, except for the sound of the bombing; terrifying, except for the reassuring promise of prayer; bleak, except for the light of the martyrs. Good night”.
At least 4,469 Palestinians, including at least 1,756 children, have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7.
Hamas says it informed Qatar that it planned to release two Israeli captives for “humanitarian reasons,” but that Israeli authorities refused.
Israel is going to “intensify” attacks on Gaza ahead of its ground invasion in preparation for “the next stage” of its “war against Hamas,” a military official said.
The spokesman of the occupation army declared that no fuel will enter Gaza. He acknowledged that they have 307 dead in the ranks of the Israeli army and 210 prisoners in Gaza and that the Israeli army will intensify its aggression against the Gaza Strip in the coming hours. He also addressed Lebanon, threatening that anyone who tries to enter Israeli territory from there will be killed and anyone who shoots will be wounded.
The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth published: “Intelligence assessments confirm that Hezbollah will go to war if Gaza is invaded.”
Israel’s National Security Council stated: “We call on Israelis to leave Jordan and Egypt immediately and refrain from traveling to Morocco.”
The Iranian Intelligence Minister said: “Cruel, destructive and deadly revenge awaits the Zionist regime.”
Leaders and senior officials from over a dozen countries gathered in Cairo for a conference to discuss ways to “de-escalate” the conflict in Gaza amid growing fears of a broader conflict in the Middle East.
Representatives of countries such as Jordan, France, Germany, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, the United States, Qatar and South Africa made empty statements against the humanitarian crisis and in favor of respecting civilian lives. The summit had no other intention than to whitewash European governments whose uncritical support for the Zionist genocide damages their democratic image, China and Russia, who try to present themselves as an alternative but offer nothing to the Palestinians, and Arab governments pressured by the pro-Palestinian rebellion of their people but who would prefer to continue the process of “normalization” of relations with Israel. The summit passed without pain or glory.
While the State of Israel advances its plans to invade Gaza and advance its ethnic cleansing against of Palestinian people, and European governments repress and sanction pro-Palestinian expressions, thousands of protesters around the world, including some 150,000 to 300,000 people in the United Kingdom and tens of thousands in Barcelona, San Sebastián and New York, have taken to the streets to express solidarity with the Palestinians and condemn the Zionist genocide.
