Israel has resealed crossings into Gaza after they came under Palestinian terrorist mortar fire when they were briefly opened to allow delivery of international aid.
“Hamas keeps putting terror ahead of the welfare of its own residents,” commented an official of the IDF’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT).
“While trucks carrying humanitarian aid to the residents of Gaza were on their way to the Strip today (Tuesday), mortar shells were launched by the terrorist organization Hamas towards Erez and Kerem Shalom Crossings and prevented the rest of the aid from entering,” according to a statement TV7 received from the COGAT Spokesperson’s Office.
Israel’s Minister of Defense Benny Gantz had approved the aid convoy following a request of the international community, and the trucks approved for entry contained medical equipment, animal feed and fuel tanks for the use of international organizations in the Gaza Strip, said COGAT.
A 19-year-old IDF soldier was wounded during yesterday’s heavy mortar fire from the Gaza Strip at the Erez Crossing, shortly before a terrorist-fired rocket killed 2 foreign workers from Thailand in a direct hit on a packing plant at Moshav Ohad in Eshkol Regional Council.
13 people, including 3 foreign workers and an IDF soldier, have been killed in Operation Guardian of the Walls.
On 13 May, COGAT revealed more than 230,000 Gaza residents were cut off from electricity after Hamas shot power lines in the Strip. 250,000 residents lost their water supply after Hamas disabled the desalination plant in Gaza City, and the sewage treatment plants in Rafah were also damaged by the Islamist terror group’s own actions.
Two days later, a long-range rocket launched from Gaza caused heavy damage to the Omar Al-Qassam hospital in the Palestinian village Azun east of Qalqilya.
“Over the past few months, this hospital has been used to receive and treat COVID-19 patients, as well as to house related medical facilities and store equipment,” said COGAT, stressing that, “This incident serves as additional proof that the terrorist organizations in Gaza place no value on human lives – be they Israeli lives, Gazan lives, or the lives of Palestinians in Judea and Samaria.”
The Erez Crossing also came under Hamas mortar fire last Friday, as Muslims prepared to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr (Feast of Breaking the Fast) festival celebrating the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
“While the State of Israel works to save the lives of Gaza patients, the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip do not apply to any means, and continue to harm the residents of the Gaza Strip and bring destruction on them,” responded COGAT.
“Hamas has brought upon you a holiday with no electricity and no water,” said the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Major General Rassan Alian, in a direct message to Gaza residents, adding “A holiday where joy has been replaced by fear.”
Below is the text and video statement by Maj. Gen. Alian posted on COGAT’s ‘Almunasseq’ Facebook account:
Gaza Residents,
In recent days, and particularly last night, you have seen how the IDF strongly defends the population of Israel, while Hamas continues to sow destruction among you.
That terror organization is continuing to launch rockets from civilian buildings and using you as human shields. It is exploiting people, including women and children, who are killed and wounded although they have done nothing.
Is this the holiday you had expected? Hamas has brought upon you a holiday with no electricity and no water. A holiday where joy has been replaced by fear. And where are your leaders on this holiday? They are hiding in shelters while you are left out in the field.
This situation was not decreed from heaven. We want your children to grow up in a different reality, and we even made some progress in that direction — toward a world with jobs and increasing prosperity. To our great sorrow, seven years after the rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip and following the investment of efforts to improve the civil conditions there, it has all come to nothing at the instigation of Hamas.
This operation will end in another week, or another month. And then what? Not everything broken can be fixed, and it will be very difficult to repair what Hamas has destroyed. To what kind of morning will you awaken? The answer depends on you.
A link to the video in English: