Seven rabbis and peace activists were arrested on Friday near the Gaza border after trying to transport food into the area, according to two participants and the activist group organizing the operation.
The detainees were among about 30 rabbis and activists from Israel and the United States who were stopped by police as they tried to reach the Erez crossing, the main crossing between Israel and northern Gaza.
The event was organized by Rabbis for Ceasefire, a US-based peace movement that seeks to build support for and highlight the ceasefire Reports of hunger in Gaza increasing.The global authority on food security – Integrated Food Security Stage Classification Initiative, has Prediction of coming famine In northern Gaza, the territorial area closest to Erez.
The timing of the protests coincided with the week of protests. passovera Jewish holiday celebrating the biblical story of the liberation of the Jews from slavery in ancient Egypt.
“We want to emphasize that Jewish liberation is tied to Palestinian liberation, and we want freedom for all,” said Toba Spitzer, a Boston rabbi who attended the protest but was not arrested.
Rabbi Spitzer said the group tried to enter Gaza in a pickup truck carrying half a ton of rice and flour but was stopped about a third of a mile from the border. The effort is largely symbolic and organizers expect it to fail given the restrictions along the border. Rabbi Spitzer said the supplies will now be donated to impoverished Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Israeli police did not respond to requests for comment.
Food shortages are widespread in Gaza. Israeli restrictions on convoys entering the Gaza Strip, Israeli bombing and widespread damage to roads, the collapse of Gaza’s agriculture and the breakdown of law and order have made it more difficult to safely distribute aid.
Aid groups and U.N. officials accuse Israel of systematically restricting the delivery of aid. Israel denies the claims, blaming the shortage on logistical errors by aid groups and recently increasing the number of trucks entering the strip.
Israeli officials say the Erez crossing, which was used primarily for pedestrian traffic before the war, would be difficult to use to deliver aid because it lacks the proper infrastructure and was also hit by Hamas-led attacks on Israel in October. Serious destruction.
Majority of Jewish Israelis reportedly opposed to more aid to Gaza a public opinion poll The study was conducted in February by the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem-based research group.
Israeli protesters often gather at another crossing point further south, Trying to stop aid convoys from entering Gaza.
