Fact or fiction
By Paul Bawden
There’s been reporting in the news that the nation of Israel is guilty of starving the people in Gaza.
All Israel News reported some facts recently regarding what Israel is doing to provide food for those suffering in Gaza.
**The policy of the Israeli government is not to starve the people of Gaza.
**To the contrary, Israel purposefully and actively facilitates the arrival and delivery of massive amounts of food and other humanitarian aid into Gaza.
**Since in the fall of 2023, Israel Defense Forces has made it possible for 94,000 truckloads of food to enter Gaza. That’s enough to feed 2 million people for two years. Hundreds of trucks continue to enter Gaza.
**What’s more, the IDF reported that 52 pallets of aid were airdropped into Gaza with cooperation from the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.
**Meanwhile, the new American aid group – the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), run by Dr. Johnnie Moore, a devout Evangelical Christian – has delivered some 90 million meals to Gazans in just the last two months.
Currently, I understand, it operates with four initial distribution sites – three near Rafah and one near central Gaza – with discussions underway to expand to northern Gaza. GHF aims to ensure aid reaches civilians directly bypassing Hamas.
Obviously, even though much is being done to meet the humanitarian needs in Gaza, there is still much more, to say the least, to be done in this war-torn area, and the people are struggling in a war zone desperately needing daily help to survive, along with daily prayer.
But the nation of Israel is not seeking to starve people in Gaza nor committing genocide. Such is a fact. News outlets like to put the blame on Israel for what is happening in Gaza. In spite of providing humanitarian aid, trying to defeat their enemy, while seeking to bring the hostages back, they are the bad guys.
Why this fictional reporting?
From my perspective a spiritual battle is going on here. The nation of Israel has a biblical history. In spite of its ups and downs, Israel is now back in some its land promised to Abraham. Hamas and others don’t like this and want to destroy Israel. Thusly, the on-going conflict. Added to this, is the antisemitic spirit displayed in America and around the world. Could there be some siding with Hamas because there is a rejection of Israel’s biblical history? Just a thought. Something to think through.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that the nation of Israel does everything right, but it does mean as a democratic nation they have every right to defend itself and to feel secure in its own country.
My prayer is that there will be peace between Israel and Hamas, and the hostages will be returned. Ultimately, in the scheme of biblical prophecy, sometime soon the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, will return and put down all the conflict in the Middle East and the world. I trust you know Him personally by faith, and you are living for Him as you look for His anytime return, while you pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
Paul Bawden is married and served in the pastoral ministry for 45 years, retiring in 2011. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.A. in Speech and attended Dallas Theological Seminary, receiving a Master of Theology. He has taken counseling courses at Trinity Evangelical Seminary in Deerfield, Illinois. Paul is a lifetime member of the Evangelical Free Church of America, as well as being a member of Interim Pastor Ministries (IPM), which serves churches during their time of transition in searching for a new pastor. He writes for Union Gospel Press, as well as being a volunteer writer for GotQuestions.org. Paul likes to write, read, bike, and work in the yard. The Bawdens have had the privilege to travel to Mexico and Romania on mission trips and visited various countries in Europe.