"Siege" update

From Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

Humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip has increased by close to 900 percent in 2009 compared to the previous year (Col. Moshe Levi, head of the IDF's Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration, Nov. 16, 2009).

Since the beginning of 2009, the IDF has allowed over 4,000 Palestinians from Gaza, together with 3,600 escorts, to enter Israel (or via Israel to the West Bank) for medical treatment.The IDF has also issued over 18,500 permits for Palestinians to leave Gaza and enter Israel or travel overseas (statistics as of November 16, 2009).

The IDF permitted the transfer of building materials to the Gaza Strip to facilitate the construction of a covered corridor (which opened the first week of November) to shelter Palestinians walking from the outskirts of Gaza City to the Erez Crossing.

COGAT announces the successful transfer of six water desalination systems to the Gaza Strip: On Dec. 21, 2009, six advanced water desalination systems were transferred to the Gaza Strip. The transfer was coordinated by the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA) in accordance with the civil state policy toward the Gaza Strip, which aims to give a continuous response to the humanitarian needs of the Gazan civilian population.

The systems are planned to supply good quality drinking water to 40,000 citizens, and were installed as part of a sewage water treatment project in the northern Gaza Strip, which is coordinated by the Gaza CLA in collaboration with the international bodies working in the Gaza Strip and the relevant Palestinian authorities.

Also, it was announced today that a shipment of strawberries will be exported from Gaza this week. In addition, a hundred truckfuls of window glass and water filters are going into Gaza this week.

This is exactly how Arabs would treat Jews if the situation was reversed, right? Like in 1948 (from Wikipedia):

Starting in early 1948, the Arab forces had severed the supply line supply line to Jewish Jerusalem (especially to the Old City). In response, the mayor of Jerusalem, Dov Yosef, introduced a draconian system of food rationing during the siege.^[10] The mallow plant played an important role in Jerusalem history at this time. When convoys bearing foodstuffs could not reach the city, the residents of Jerusalem went out to the fields to pick mallow leaves, which are rich in iron and vitamins. The Jerusalem radio station, Kol Hamagen, broadcast instructions for cooking mallow. When the broadcasts were picked up in Jordan, they sparked victory celebrations. Radio Amman announced that the fact that the Jews were eating leaves, food for donkeys and cattle, was a sign that they were dying of starvation and would soon surrender.^[11]

I would like to add, once again, that I have yet to see reports of a single Gazan starving to death, despite literally years of stern warnings of an imminent humanitarian crisis.