Extremist Israeli activists attacking aid convoys bound for Gaza are being given intelligence of the movement of humanitarian supplies from IDF soldiers, one of the protesters has claimed.
Earlier this week, demonstrators blocked trucks at the Tarqumiya checkpoint west of Hebron.
The largely male crowd wearing jeans, baseball caps and tzitzit can be seen in video footage hurling boxes of humanitarian supplies to the ground and stamping on them.
Rachel Touitou, a spokesperson for Tzav 9, the extreme group that organised the raid, said “some” of their intelligence about aid convoys comes from, “individual members of Israeli forces.”
“When a policeman or soldier’s mission is supposed to protect Israelis and instead he is sent to protect humanitarian aid convoys – knowing it will end up in the hands of Hamas – we cannot blame them or civilians who notice the trucks passing by their towns for providing intel to groups trying to block that aid,” she told The Guardian.
A Palestinian lorry driver who was hospitalised after being attacked by the demonstrators at Tarqumiya checkpoint claimed there was “full cooperation” between settlers, who make up many of the activists, and the Israeli state.
Yazid al-Zoubi, 26, said: “We are shocked and surprised that the army did not provide us with any kind of protection. Even though they were present and watching what was happening. The army was at the service of the settlers.”
In messages published by The Guardian, far-right activists have further claimed on WhatsApp that they have received help from the Israeli police.
In one message, a settler wrote that they, “receive preliminary information about the planning of moving trucks, from border crossings’ soldiers and police”.
Touitou added: “Our purpose is to highlight that feeding your enemy, in this specific case Hamas, especially during a time of war, is immoral…
"Israel has been delivering this humanitarian aid without expecting anything in return. And 80% of the population agrees with our stance. Hamas is reselling this aid to civilians, which is meant to be distributed for free.
"We will continue to block this humanitarian aid until they can prove that it is reaching the civilians.”
This week, the World Food Programme declared that famine has “never loomed larger” in Gaza.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan KC, who this week announced that he was seeking an arrest warrant for Hamas leaders as well as Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, said the Israeli government had used starvation as a weapon of war.
"International law and the laws of armed conflict apply to all," he said. "No foot soldier, no commander, no civilian leader – no-one – can act with impunity.”
Gallant claimed that Israeli forces were fighting, “in accordance with international law, while taking unprecedented measures to facilitate humanitarian aid.”
He added: “I stand with, support, and commend our troops, who are defending our people and fulfilling the extraordinary privilege and obligation of defending ourselves, by ourselves.”
The American government has condemned the protesters and said they will raise their actions with the Israeli government “at the highest level”. American aid this week started to arrive in Gaza thanks to a new temporary port built in the south of the Strip.
