Andrew Forrest slams Israel over Gaza aid stalemate
Billionaire Andrew Forrest has made available the intellectual property behind his SafeGates proposal for aid to flow to civilians after being unable to secure Israeli support.
Andrew Forrest has accused Israel of “dithering” over his proposal to try to open up the flow of aid into Gaza, warning that up to one million people could starve to death as a result.
The billionaire issued a statement on Saturday announcing it has made the intellectual property behind its SafeGates proposal freely available after his philanthropic arm Minderoo Foundation was unable to secure Israeli support for the plan.
Dr Forrest had proposed the installation of automated, secure gates between Israel and Gaza that he said would speed up the flow of aid into Gaza. He had given Israel a deadline of last Sunday to commit to the plan, which he had said could be up and running within weeks.
The mining magnate said Israel’s “dithering” over the past fortnight raised questions about how Israel would meet its obligations under international humanitarian law, and warned that a famine on par with that in Rwanda in 1994 could occur.
“Minderoo Foundation provided Israel a fully financed solution to enable the flow of thousands of tonnes of aid to enter Gaza securely and efficiently to prevent a generational disaster and mass starvation event,” Dr Forrest said.
“For more than two months, Minderoo Foundation was in detailed consultation and technical discussion with Israeli and Palestinian officials. SafeGates were presented as an urgent solution, and we requested they be treated as such.
“Heartbreakingly, despite thorough reviews and discussions, Israel was unable to step outside its normal operating parameters to provide full approval in a timely manner that would have seen the first gate operational in two weeks and all three gates operating within three weeks.”
He said Minderoo’s doctors and scientists, along with experts in Israel, had calculated that more than one million people, including 400,000 children, could be exposed to death through starvation given the slow flow of aid into Gaza.
“In such conditions, people with little to no access to medical care or food are extremely vulnerable to the outbreak of disease,” Dr Forrest said.
“In crowded, unsanitary and unsustainable living conditions, people become emaciated and immunosuppressed with devastating consequences. If a mass starvation event were to occur, Minderoo assesses the mortality risk could ultimately be on par with that suffered by the people of Rwanda in 1994. This is a preventable disaster.”
He called on Israel and other Middle East nations to work together on finding a solution to the aid bottleneck.
“October 7th was a tragic and unjustified attack, and all those illegally snatched from their homes should be immediately released. The right for Israel to defend itself against terror is clear and absolute, but the manner in which it does so and the obligations it resultantly must meet, matter a great deal,” he said.
Minderoo has already committed $19 million towards Gaza, including delivery trucks and an offer to bituminise a road corridor down the middle of Gaza to accelerate the flow of aid.
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