Oxygen, water, dates top the the list of aid denied by 'Israel': CNN
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Humanitarian workers and government officials attempting to transfer urgently needed aid to Gaza told CNN that a clear pattern of Israeli obstruction is evident.
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Trucks carrying humanitarian aid line up at the Rafah Border Crossing, Egypt, on the way to Gaza, Sunday, November 19, 2023. (AP)
CNN has interviewed more than two dozen humanitarian and government officials who revealed that the Israeli agency that authorizes access to Gaza for the multi-billion-dollar aid attempts has enforced arbitrary and contradictory criteria.
It further looked into documents assembled by major contributors in the humanitarian operation that list the aid items that were most declined entrance by the Israeli occupation, and found out that they mainly include anesthetics and anesthesia machines, oxygen cylinders, ventilators, and water filtration systems.
CNN also discovered that other rejected items are dates, sleeping bags, cancer medication, water purification tablets, and maternity kits.
Humanitarian workers speak up
CNN sources, most of whom prefer to remain anonymous out of fear, revealed that a huge portion of the donations they dealt with were either declined or held up by a long wait for clearance by "Israel’s" Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, or COGAT, which controls the flow of aid into Gaza.
One of the sources overseeing donations from four different relief organizations at one of the transit routes told CNN, "It is perfectly engineered chaos," adding that more than 15,000 tons of their relief supplies are still pending Israeli approval to enter Gaza stressing that more than half is based on food items.
Another senior humanitarian official described the process for admitting aid as "deliberately opaque, deliberately ambiguous," adding "You can receive clearance from COGAT and arrive to find police or finance and customs officials who will send the truck back."
One humanitarian worker at Rafah crossing also stressed, "While there’s a war being fought in Gaza, we are fighting a different war here," emphasizing, "It is a war to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza."
Read more: 'Israel' held responsible globally for Flour Massacre: Israeli media
The Flour Massacre
More than 100 people were killed in a massacre committed by Israeli occupation forces in al-Rashid Street, to the west of Gaza City, Al Mayadeen's correspondent reported on Thursday.
Tens of others were wounded in the attack that targeted Palestinian civilians who were waiting in line to receive aid packages in the northern Gaza Strip, a field source from the Palestinian Resistance told Al Mayadeen.
Israeli armored vehicles and tanks also ran over the bodies of several martyrs, while others fired incendiary shells toward civilians in the area, according to the commander.
Following the Flour Massacre, the Israeli occupation released aerial footage alleging that Palestinians were martyred due to a "stampede" during aid collection.
A BBC investigation uncovered that the footage was edited and not presented as a continuous sequence, raising suspicions that the IOF might have concealed the part where they opened fire on the people gathered at the Nabulsi Roundabout.
BBC Verify reviewed social media videos, satellite imagery, and IOF drone footage to assemble a "comprehensive understanding" of the information regarding the massacre.
