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Axios reported that the administration of US President Joe Biden is increasingly concerned about the possibility of Gaza becoming a new Mogadishu, after the security vacuum and desperation opened the door for armed gangs to attack and plunder humanitarian aid trucks.
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Social media platforms have recently circulated pictures of Gaza police officers, who were affiliated with the administration of the Strip by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), and civil service forces in the north and south of the Strip. Among their tasks was protecting aid convoys arriving into the Strip.
But the deployment of these forces, even if it was to secure the arrival of humanitarian relief convoys and distribute their contents, disturbed the Israeli occupation, which saw it as a sign of the return of Hamas and the extent of its ability to withstand, which prompted it to target it directly.
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Axios: Washington called on Israel to stop targeting Hamas police in Gaza
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The United States Special Envoy for Humanitarian Issues in the Middle East, David Satterfield, commented on these targeting, saying, “Earlier in February, the Israeli army killed members of the Palestinian police who were guarding a United Nations aid convoy, in the besieged city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.” .
One of the World Food Program convoys heading north was subjected to chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order. Several trucks were looted between Khan Yunis and Deir al-Balah, and the driver of one of them was beaten, which prompted the World Food Program to suspend its aid in the north.
Why Mogadishu?
The Biden administration's fear of Gaza turning into a new Mogadishu comes because the latter was the most dangerous and lawless city in the world, due to long years of war and destruction, something that Biden fears will be repeated in the Strip.
The collapse of civil order and the spread of chaos in Gaza will not be in the interest of any party, and so the US administration asked Israel to avoid this - according to Axios - to stop targeting civilian police members, affiliated with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, who accompany aid trucks in the Strip.
According to the website, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin discussed Washington's concerns with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, and stressed the need to find a way to provide security for aid trucks entering the Strip.
But Israel rejected the American request, because it says that one of its main goals in the war is to ensure that Hamas no longer runs the Gaza Strip.
America markets itself
The Shabakat program (2/26/2024) monitored some of the tweeters’ comments on the matter, including what Elian wrote: “It will turn into Mogadishu, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, or Ukraine, all of which were defeated by the West.”
While Saleh Al-Amoudi tweeted: “I swear to God, we have surpassed Mogadishu.. War, killing, and famine are another thing, and the absence of law is another thing, thefts, looting, and prices are another thing.”
As for Nour El-Din, he wrote, “America is trying to market itself as caring for the rights of the Gazans, but it is the country that contributes most to the extermination of the Palestinians. How can the Zionist enemy refuse a request from America when it is the one that supplies it with weapons and ammunition?”
Alaa Abu Radi said: “There are no risks (for) Israel and no risks for America, and by the way, the police are not affiliated with Hamas. The police are a civilian body and include elements from all segments of the people.”
It is noteworthy that the occupation does not only target the Gaza Strip police, as in recent days cameras have recorded it targeting gatherings of Palestinian civilians at aid convoys seeking relief, which led to the martyrdom of dozens of them in the northern Gaza Strip.