It’s approaching 1 a.m. Yosef de Bresser, 22, is in the thick of planning.
He fields calls from the car as it zips along dirt roads just outside southern Gaza near Egypt.
“Are people there?” he asks. Around 40, he’s told.
He taps out a WhatsApp message to rally more: “We sleep tonight in Kerem Shalom and block aid and fuel to Hamas! Do you want to sleep here with us? Shuttles are running throughout the night and day.”
Before Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7 and the war that ensued, Kerem Shalom was the main commercial crossing between Israel and Gaza. Today, it’s one of just two entry points for lifesaving food and medicine to the besieged enclave, where aid agencies say civilians are on the brink of famine.
But De Bresser and his three companions are determined to keep any trucks from getting through, and they aren’t bothered if innocents suffer: “War is war,” De Bresser shrugs. The United States didn’t care about civilians when it blew up Hiroshima and Nagasaki. “Who gives his enemy aid?”
Scrawny and wearing an inside-out T-shirt, De Bresser appears an unlikely leader. But he has credentials. He has lived in Yitzhar, a settlement in the West Bank notorious for its violence against neighboring Palestinians, and has been arrested a dozen times, including during demonstrations backing Israel’s contentious judicial overhaul.
Tattooed on his neck is a fist raised against a blue Star of David, the emblem of the Jewish Defense League, founded in New York by the extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane and designated by the FBI a terrorist organization. The group launched bombings against Palestinian and Arab targets in the 1970s and ’80s but is now largely inactive.
“He’s old-school,” explains Bnayahu Ben Shabat, 23, a friend of De Bresser’s, before they set out on their journey. Ben Shabat is in charge of special projects for Im Tirtzu, a right-wing Zionist organization.
Special projects such as the one they have in store this early Wednesday morning.
De Bresser and Ben Shabat have been protesting the aid for several weeks. Camping is a new idea.
The Israel Defense Forces — ostensibly, at least — have made Kerem Shalom a closed military zone since late January. But there are no checkpoints at night, making it easier to bring in busloads of protesters. Still, Ben Shabat wants to take the winding roads through the farmland, to stay on the right side of the court order that bans him from some parts of the area.
When the group finally reaches the crossing, a motor coach full of campers is already waiting.
A lone police car sits just inside the open gates, its blue and red lights flashing. But teenagers inside are unperturbed, streaming off the coach and through the open gates, screaming with excitement.
Inside, they shake hands with soldiers and begin to line up their tents.
For context: Understand what’s behind the Israel-Gaza war.
End of carousel
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, visiting this month, called on Israel to ensure the passage of aid for Gaza through Kerem Shalom. But there’s no apparent effort here to stop the teens.
One asks a soldier if he can drive his car into the crossing point. The soldier says it’s fine by him but he’s not sure whether the police will stop him. “I don’t think they will,” he says. “Good luck. Turn on your lights.”
A voice over a loudspeaker instructs protesters to grab sleeping bags and tents. “Welcome to whoever came,” It says. “Champions — really, champions.”
He fields calls from the car as it zips along dirt roads just outside southern Gaza near Egypt.
“Are people there?” he asks. Around 40, he’s told.
He taps out a WhatsApp message to rally more: “We sleep tonight in Kerem Shalom and block aid and fuel to Hamas! Do you want to sleep here with us? Shuttles are running throughout the night and day.”
Before Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7 and the war that ensued, Kerem Shalom was the main commercial crossing between Israel and Gaza. Today, it’s one of just two entry points for lifesaving food and medicine to the besieged enclave, where aid agencies say civilians are on the brink of famine.
But De Bresser and his three companions are determined to keep any trucks from getting through, and they aren’t bothered if innocents suffer: “War is war,” De Bresser shrugs. The United States didn’t care about civilians when it blew up Hiroshima and Nagasaki. “Who gives his enemy aid?”
Scrawny and wearing an inside-out T-shirt, De Bresser appears an unlikely leader. But he has credentials. He has lived in Yitzhar, a settlement in the West Bank notorious for its violence against neighboring Palestinians, and has been arrested a dozen times, including during demonstrations backing Israel’s contentious judicial overhaul.
Tattooed on his neck is a fist raised against a blue Star of David, the emblem of the Jewish Defense League, founded in New York by the extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane and designated by the FBI a terrorist organization. The group launched bombings against Palestinian and Arab targets in the 1970s and ’80s but is now largely inactive.
“He’s old-school,” explains Bnayahu Ben Shabat, 23, a friend of De Bresser’s, before they set out on their journey. Ben Shabat is in charge of special projects for Im Tirtzu, a right-wing Zionist organization.
Special projects such as the one they have in store this early Wednesday morning.
De Bresser and Ben Shabat have been protesting the aid for several weeks. Camping is a new idea.
The Israel Defense Forces — ostensibly, at least — have made Kerem Shalom a closed military zone since late January. But there are no checkpoints at night, making it easier to bring in busloads of protesters. Still, Ben Shabat wants to take the winding roads through the farmland, to stay on the right side of the court order that bans him from some parts of the area.
When the group finally reaches the crossing, a motor coach full of campers is already waiting.
A lone police car sits just inside the open gates, its blue and red lights flashing. But teenagers inside are unperturbed, streaming off the coach and through the open gates, screaming with excitement.
Inside, they shake hands with soldiers and begin to line up their tents.
Israel-Gaza war
Secretary of State Antony Blinken left Tel Aviv on Thursday after holding talks with Israeli officials. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a new Hamas proposal for a three-stage cease-fire deal in a news conference Wednesday.For context: Understand what’s behind the Israel-Gaza war.
End of carousel
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, visiting this month, called on Israel to ensure the passage of aid for Gaza through Kerem Shalom. But there’s no apparent effort here to stop the teens.
One asks a soldier if he can drive his car into the crossing point. The soldier says it’s fine by him but he’s not sure whether the police will stop him. “I don’t think they will,” he says. “Good luck. Turn on your lights.”
A voice over a loudspeaker instructs protesters to grab sleeping bags and tents. “Welcome to whoever came,” It says. “Champions — really, champions.”
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