Occupied West Bank (QNN) - War ciminal Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu moved to block the reopening of the Erez crossing into northern Gaza and then had his office flatly deny that any decision to open it had ever been made, in a maneuver aimed at protecting his standing with far-right voters ahead of Israel's election. The denial quickly collapsed under the weight of Israel's own preparations and international announcements, exposing the claim as a lie.
For weeks, Israel's defense establishment had been making concrete preparations to reopen the crossing. The occupation army's Southern Command and the Crossings Authority prepared the routes trucks would use, readied the forces to secure the traffic, and built up the infrastructure on the Israeli side. Israel accepted a donation from the German government and installed an advanced scanning device at the crossing to inspect goods entering Gaza. Israel's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Noa Forman, told the Security Council that the target date for opening Erez was September 1, announcing it to the world.
Yet when the preparations became public, Netanyahu's office insisted no decision had been made, with officials close to him claiming that anyone who said otherwise was simply not telling the truth. Confronted with security documents showing that Israel's National Security Council had approved the opening, they shifted their story, claiming the discussions had been about "other things," easing local traffic congestion, diplomatic interests with Germany, and vague operational matters, rather than actually letting goods into Gaza. Israel's own defense officials scoffed at the denial, noting that the working assumption of everyone involved was that the crossing was going to open, and that the extensive preparations on the ground did not resemble a merely theoretical discussion.
The gap between the German-backed preparations, the September 1 date Israel gave the UN, and Netanyahu's flat denial exposed the reversal for what it was: a politically motivated retreat. The German government had funded the scanning equipment, and Israeli reporting laid out the defense establishment's concrete work, leaving Netanyahu's office contradicted by its own state apparatus and its foreign donor alike.
The reason for the reversal lies in Israel's election calendar. With a vote approaching and his coalition trailing, Netanyahu calculated that opening a crossing to feed starving Palestinians in Gaza could be portrayed by his rivals as a concession to Hamas and a "gift" to the enemy, costing him votes on the far right. Rather than allow food into an enclave Israel has deliberately starved, he chose to freeze the process and deny it had ever been underway, prioritizing his electoral survival over the lives of two million besieged people.
