The sum of the humanitarian paradigm is deadly

The discrepancy between what the international community glorifies as humanitarian aid and what Gaza is deprived of keep growing. A woman and four children were killed following heavy rains in Gaza which caused a landslide at the site in Deir al-Balah where displaced Palestinians are living in tents that offer no protection from winter storms. As a result of the diplomacy of humanitarian aid, compounded with Israel’s restrictions on aid entrance and delivery, Palestinians face an added danger in winter which, no doubt, will be treated as collateral damage. 

Diplomatic statements are bordering on the ridiculous. “We are aware of the situation in Gaza, and obviously, if you live in the tent and the tent is full of water, the situation gets much worse,” the European Commission’s Spokesperson Eva Hrncirova told reporters in Brussels.

In light of the EU’s awareness, therefore, Hrncirova urged Israel to allow access to humanitarian aid in Gaza. This is the best the EU can do after supporting Israel’s security narrative and genocide in Gaza: give an overview on tents. 

Gaza has unfortunately beaten that statement as forcibly displaced Palestinians are suffering the repercussions. Medical Aid for Palestinians Director of Advocacy, Campaigns and Communications Rohan Talbot declared, “At its heart this is not a humanitarian crisis, but a crisis of impunity,” noting that the collective punishment imposed on Gaza, as well as the Board of Peace’s inaction, contributed to the perpetual deteriorating conditions in Gaza.

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The immediate, however, is also informed by decades of the humanitarian paradigm only serving its propagandists. For decades, the international community contributed billions to keep Israel’s colonial enterprise protected, allowing it to expand over Palestinian land and ultimately commit genocide. On the other hand, humanitarian aid remained dependent on donor funding, as well as on clauses of neutrality that resulted in severe repercussions on its recipients.

In order to receive aid, the forcibly displaced Palestinians in Gaza were characterised as apolitical and dependent, while their humanitarian needs were discussed separately from Israel’s ethnic cleansing and land appropriation.

Meanwhile the aid donors are also busy helping Israel commit further human rights violations and war crimes, thus making it impossible for the rhetoric to not play a role. 

What we have been seeing in Gaza, therefore, is the result of rhetoric that matches the diplomacy sustaining the paradigm, and not what it is supposed to deliver. Hence the absurd comments passed off as purported awareness, even as Palestinians know they will be facing additional deterioration, diseases and death, all in the name of the humanitarian paradigm which is also composed of waiting. Waiting for the genocide to stop while knowing it would continue through other means. Waiting for world leaders and Israel to agree on humanitarian pauses, on ceasefires, on conditioned aid delivery, on the opening of border crossings for aid entry to Gaza, on flimsy dwellings that flood swiftly and kill easily, too. The sum of the humanitarian paradigm is deadly, yet it is the only approach the international community will consider. 

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