"Under international law, Israel is considered an occupying power and has a responsibility of letting aid in. On top of it, Israel has closed border crossings, which is the only effective and efficient way to get aid despite multiple international calls asking Israel to open them."
June 28, 2024
To:
Menelaos Hadjicostis, Correspondent, AP
Josef Federman, News Director, Jerusalem, AP
John Daniszewski, Vice President and Editor, Standards, AP
David Walmsley, Editor-in-Chief, Globe and Mail
Dear Menelaos Hadjicostis, Josef Federman, John Daniszewski, and David Walmsley,
I’m writing to you on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME, https://www.cjpme.org) to express our concerns regarding the article: “Gunfire, lawlessness and gang-like looters are preventing aid distribution in Gaza, an official says,” published on June 26, 2024, on Globe and Mail.
I take foremost issue with your article whitewashing Israel’s war crimes.
First, your article obscures Israel’s role and responsibility in the lack of aid getting into Gaza, the famine and starvation it has inflicted on Palestinians, and the deaths resulting from it.
You write: “The eight-month war has largely cut off the flow of food, medicine and basic goods to Gaza, and people there are now totally dependent on aid.”
Writing “the eight-month war” not only makes it seem like Palestinians are responsible for the lack of food, medicine, and basic goods coming into Gaza, but it conceals the fact that Israel has been blocking aid coming into Gaza.
Under international law, Israel is considered an occupying power and has a responsibility of letting aid in. On top of it, Israel has closed border crossings, which is the only effective and efficient way to get aid despite multiple international calls asking Israel to open them.
I, therefore, ask you to change the words: “the eight-month war” to the accurate word: “Israel.”
By not mentioning Israel’s responsibility in blocking aid into Gaza, you gloss over Israel’s responsibility in inflicting famine, starvation, and dehydration.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) released a new report on Tuesday, June 25, stating that 96% of the Palestinians in Gaza (2.15 million) are facing acute food insecurity at “crisis” level or higher and that half a million of them are enduring “catastrophic” conditions (IPC level five). The IPC also noted that there is a “high risk” of famine across the whole Gaza Strip “as long as the conflict continues and humanitarian access is restricted.”
As of June 27, six children have already died from starvation in just over a week.
I, therefore, ask you to add more details about Israel’s actions to not further absolve its responsibility for the deaths of Palestinians.
Second, you write: “....after the Israeli military appeared to use the area in a June 8 hostage rescue.”
This sentence has completely erased the Palestinian victims of what is widely known as the Nuseirat refugee camp massacre. It erased the killing of 274 Palestinians, specifically 64 children and 57 women, and the injuring of 700 Palestinians, specifically 153 children and 161 women.
I, therefore, ask you to update your sentence to “ … in the June 8 Nusseirat refugee camp massacre where 274 Palestinians, including 64 children and 57 women, were killed, and 700 Palestinians, including 153 children and 161 women, were injured, for the return of four Israelis.”
I hope that AP will make these changes and report accurately on Israel’s actions so as not to conceal its war crimes against the Palestinians.
Sincerely,
Fatima Haidar
Media Analyst, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East