Geopolitical and security analyst Zoran Kusovac writes on Al Jazeera on the Military reasoning for Israel's 'complete' blockade of Gaza.


blockade of Gaza


 Two pieces of positive news emerged on Saturday: the opening of the Rafah gate, allowing first aid vehicles into Gaza, and the release of two captives. All of these events are a reflection of Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip, another important factor in the current crisis in the Middle East.



As military operations go, sieges are rather ancient. To break the resolve of the besieged soldiers and the people blockaded with them, the attacker shuts off their communications and supplies in the hopes that starvation, sickness, and demoralization would lead to their surrender.The invading force may only hope that the defenders' morale and fighting capacity would deplete over a protracted siege, allowing for an easier victory in the case of an all-out assault.


In the past, the best that could happen to innocent bystanders during an invasion was that they would be taken as captives, hostages, or slaves. Civilians always lose out, even if they manage to survive, and such severe treatment is now universally condemned.



There is usually brutality and cruelty throughout the siege. It's a strategy to deliberately deprive people of food, water, warmth, comfort, and medicine. People within the blockade will get infected with cholera, dysentery, and other ailments due to a lack of access to clean drinking water.


When I was young, my Balkan grandmother would tell me to "always keep a bag of flour at home." Much later, I met other grandmothers who had lived through war and famine in places like Lebanon, Afghanistan, and East Timor, and they all gave me the same advice: stock up on grains and pulses. But even those who listened to their elders and were not caught unprepared would see their savings dwindle at a frightening pace. They would have to abandon their food storage, cooking equipment, and
 gasoline if they were forced to evacuate.



After 16 years of siege, the Gaza Strip finally ran out of essential supplies. After the Hamas assault on October 7th, Israel turned off the water and power to Gaza. Aid couldn't get into the enclave since the roads in and out were closed. The Israeli airstrikes and the mandate to leave the north have made things even more desperate for the inhabitants of Gaza.


As a result, the lives of almost two million Palestinians in Gaza are entirely dependent on food handouts.


The Berlin blockade of 1948–49 was one of the early contemporary sieges. However, the 1990s saw some of the worst conflicts in Bosnia and Afghanistan. While the Western world paid little attention to the siege of Kabul, the terrible siege of Sarajevo galvanized the international community into action, at least in terms of humanitarian supplies.


Countries sent food, stoves, sheeting to repair smashed windows, and limited gasoline, but no one attempted to stop the Bosnian Serb aggressors who bombarded the city for four years, killing far more people than military.Humans have a daily calorie need of around 2,200. It has been suggested by experts that a person may maintain life on 1,200 calories for up to a month, perhaps two. The Auschwitz concentration camp gave its captives a daily diet of 1,000 calories.


According to statistics, Bosnians got an average of 300 grams of food help each day. This quantity is obviously insufficient to meet even the most basic nutritional needs. Those who made it through the shelling and sniping were severely undernourished when they finally returned home.


Water is essential for human survival, and we need around five liters each day for drinking, cooking, and cleaning. Depending on the circumstances, experts have indicated that 1.5 liters could be plenty.


Bosnia and Herzegovina had plenty of water resources in the form of rivers and lakes. But there is hardly no fresh water in dry Gaza.



When considering food and water, the minimum daily help need for every resident of Gaza is two kilos. This amounts to 4,000 tons every day for a population of 2,000,000 people. The standard truck can carry 20 tons. Using just elementary arithmetic, we may deduce that the daily minimum length of the line of trucks supplying Gaza would be at least four kilometers (2.5 miles).


The amount of organization required to provide relief is enormous. A designated port where two ships may dock daily is needed for regular relief deliveries from the outside world. Fortunately, the Egyptian city of el-Arish, on the Sinai Peninsula, has such a harbor just 40 kilometers (26 miles) from Rafah.


Aerial supply cannot meet all demands, but it may be possible to fly in some of the most needed items. Israel bombed and damaged Gaza Airport in the southern part of the strip in 2001, although al-Gorah and el-Arish airports in Egypt are convenient alternatives.


Numerous cargo planes could arrive there, but they wouldn't be able to handle everything on their own: A typical air freighter can carry 11 tons of supplies, as was shown in Bosnia. That's a very high number, requiring 360 landings daily.


Palestinians in Gaza would require regular assistance deliveries to be established before anybody could worry about using big data to figure out the logistics. As of right now, no.


Source: Al Jazeera

Previous Post Next Post