US Takes Over Gaza Aid, Forgets to End Siege First
Washington's new 'US-led coordination center' for Gaza aid, a brainchild of President Trump's 'peace plan,' replaces COGAT, the Israeli military unit that meticulously managed (read: controlled and restricted) civilian life in Gaza for years. It's a shocking development, given COGAT's track record of turning vital supplies into bargaining chips. One might think a 'peace plan' would first address
the root causes of humanitarian catastrophe, like the actual siege, rather than merely changing who holds the clipboard. This move, ostensibly to increase aid flow, comes without any apparent change to the Israeli-Egyptian blockade that has throttled Gaza since 2007. Is this merely a rebranding exercise, where the US now gets to oversee the slow starvation, rather than Israel directly? How many
coordination centers does it take to deliver a single bag of flour into an open-air prison?