One day before the U.S. election, Israel told the United Nations that it would be cutting ties with UNRWA, its aid agency for Palestinian refugees. On Election Day itself, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed Defense Minister Yoav Gallant — who had challenged him on his approach to a ceasefire and the return of hostages. Later that night in Tel Aviv time, as Americans went to the polls, the Israeli military told national media that it is getting closer to the “complete evacuation” of northern Gaza, and residents would not be allowed to return.
The victory of Donald Trump wouldn’t become clear until the next morning in Israel, but Netanyahu acted as if his preferred candidate was already in the White House. The green light from the U.S. government to carry out his war is, apparently, glowing even brighter. That same night, Israeli Brig. Gen. Itzik Cohen said that humanitarian aid would no longer arrive in northern Gaza, since there are “no more civilians left.”
“That really is a frightening statement, because the intention is to leave nothing and no one living behind,” said Khaled Elgindy, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute think tank. The U.N. warned last week that “the entire Palestinian population in North Gaza, especially children, is at imminent risk of dying from disease, famine, and the ongoing bombardments.”
Israel “understood they were going to have an entirely free hand to do what they wanted.”
The Harris campaign and Biden administration did not want to be seen as critical of Israel ahead of the election, according to Yousef Munayyer, head of the Palestine/Israel program at Arab Center Washington D.C. As a result, the Israeli government “understood they were going to have an entirely free hand to do what they wanted,” said Munayyer. “Netanyahu understood that he had an opportunity to do things in the last three months that he probably would have got a lot more........