Media review: Haaretz says Israelis must wake up before it is too late
Sunday, March 03, 2024Will the Flour Massacre be a turning point on this road paved by blood? It is unlikely because tomorrow, the day after, or a week after, there will be another equally harrowing event that will supersede this massacre. However, some Israeli media outlets now see it as a red flag, if not a turning point. This point was made this week in the opinion essay, Gaza's Night of Death and Hunger, published in Haaretz.
The author, Gideon Levy, argues that the people of Gaza lived through the “flour massacre” that took place in the Nabulsi roundabout in the Gaza Strip last Thursday, as a “night of death and hunger”, when at least 118 people (figure updated after the death of injured who cannot be treated due to destroyed hospitals) were killed and 760 others were injured, explaining that Israel tried to deny its responsibility, which cannot be denied because it is the occupying power in sector.
In his article in Haaretz newspaper, Gideon Levy refuted the Israeli army’s account of the massacre, and pointed out that among the 176 wounded who were taken to the hospital, 142 had gunshot wounds.
Levy pointed out sarcastically that the trucks - according to what is known - do not fire, and that the claim that the security guards of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) were the ones who fired such an insane amount of ammunition into the crowd carries no more credibility than the credibility that the Palestinians were the ones who fired Palestinian-American journalist Sherine Abu Aqla was shot in Jenin in 2022.
The writer explained that video clips published on the Instagram platform show hundreds of people gathering around fires in an attempt to alleviate the winter cold, while they are waiting for trucks, before a convoy of trucks coming from Egypt heads through the Israeli checkpoint north on Al-Rashid Street.
He continued that Al Jazeera also showed a video clip that was partially filmed at the back of the convoy, where gunfire could be heard and people could be seen crawling to the trucks or taking cover behind them. Eyewitnesses also reported that the gunfire came from the direction of the Israeli vehicles, and even more than that. The Israelis prevented access to the wounded.
However, if it were proven that the occupation army soldiers were the ones who opened fire on this gathering and killed and wounded hundreds of hungry residents, no one in Israel would be upset about that - according to Gideon Levy - because it is “a war as you know: remember October 7th.”
Levy said, "The minimum level of sympathy for the Palestinians completely stopped in Israel on October 7, as if we were in a coma. We only feel sympathy for ourselves, our soldiers and our hostages, and anyone else could explode."
Indeed, Levy continues, Gazans and the world are exploding with anger, and Israel is on the verge of being outcast, as it has never been condemned, denounced, or incited such hatred as is the case today, and soon every Israeli will feel this.
The writer wondered: What must happen in order for the Israelis to wake up from their sense of complacency and activate their moral sensors regarding what has happened since October 7?
He concluded that the night of death and hunger, in which body bags replaced food bags in trucks, and blood mixed with flour, did not inspire Israel to confront the continuation of the war, and nothing would stop it, even to think about its fate, if not because of the horrific price that the residents of Gaza are paying, At least for the price that Israel itself will pay.