Seven rabbis and peace activists were arrested Friday near the border with Gaza after they tried to bring in food supplies, according to two participants and the campaign group that organized the effort. into the territory.
Those arrested were among a group of about 30 clerics and activists from Israel and the United States who were stopped by police as they tried to reach the Erez border crossing, a major transit point between Israel and northern Gaza.
Organized by Rabbis for Ceasefire, a US-based peace movement, the effort aims to build support for a ceasefire and highlight Increased reports of hunger in Gaza. The global body on food security, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification initiative, has predict impending famine in northern Gaza, the area of territory closest to Erez.
The protest was organized to coincide with the week Passovera Jewish festival that commemorates the biblical story of the liberation of the Jews from slavery in ancient Egypt.
“We make the point that the liberation of the Jews is tied to the liberation of the Palestinians, that we wants freedom for everyone.”
Rabbi Spitzer said the group tried to drive into Gaza with 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 predict it will fail due to 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 a request for comment.
Author Ayelet Waldman of Berkeley, California, was among those arrested, as was her husband, author Michael Chabon, said on Instagram.
Food shortages are widespread in Gaza. Israeli restrictions on where convoys can enter the strip, Israeli bombardments and widespread road damage, the collapse of Gaza's agriculture and the breakdown of law and order all making it more difficult to distribute aid safely.
Aid groups and United Nations officials have accused Israel of systematically restricting aid delivery. Israel denies this assertion, blaming aid groups' logistical shortfalls and a recent increase in the number of trucks entering the strip.
Israeli officials say the Erez overpass, which was mainly used for pedestrians before the war, is difficult to use to transport aid because it lacks proper infrastructure and was also heavily damaged during the war. Hamas-led raid on Israel in October.
The majority of Jewish Israelis oppose providing more aid to Gaza, according to a poll was conducted in February by the Israel Democracy Institute, a research group based in Jerusalem.
Israeli protesters regularly gather at another crossing point further south, attempted to block aid convoys into Gaza.
