UN Agency Reports Violent Looting of Nearly 100 Gaza Food Aid Trucks

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) reported that a convoy comprising 109 UN aid trucks transporting food was subjected to violent looting in Gaza on Saturday. Out of these, ninety-seven trucks were lost, and their drivers were compelled at gunpoint to offload their humanitarian supplies subsequent to traversing the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing into southern Gaza. This event is considered to be among the most severe of its nature. According to eyewitness accounts, the convoy faced an assault by masked individuals who deployed grenades. Philippe Lazzarini, Unrwa’s commissioner general, refrained from naming those responsible for the attack, but he stated that the “total breakdown of civil order” within Gaza rendered it “become an impossible environment to operate in”. Unrwa indicated that without prompt intervention, critical food scarcities are anticipated to intensify for the two million individuals who rely on humanitarian assistance for survival. Earlier in the current month, a UN-supported evaluation had cautioned about a “strong likelihood that famine is imminent in areas within the northern Gaza Strip”. This warning followed a significant ground offensive by Israeli forces in the northern region and the UN’s report that fewer aid trucks had entered Gaza last month than at any point since the conflict between Israel and Hamas commenced in October 2023. The looting incident on Saturday was initially reported by Reuters news agency, which quoted an Unrwa official in Gaza stating that Israeli authorities had directed the convoy to “depart at short notice via an unfamiliar route” from Kerem Shalom. Gaza’s interior ministry, administered by Hamas, announced that its security personnel had killed “more than 20 members of gangs involved in stealing aid trucks” during an operation conducted in collaboration with “tribal committees,” which are networks of traditional family clans. During a news conference held in Geneva on Monday, Lazzarini stated he was unable to comment on the specific route, but he verified the looting and remarked: “We have been warning a long time ago about the total breakdown of civil order.” He elaborated: “Until four or five months ago, we still had local capacity, people who were escorting the convoy. This has completely gone, which means we are in an environment where local gangs, local families, are struggling among each other to take control of any business or any activities taking place in the south. It has become an impossible environment to operate in.” Lazzarini further mentioned that hundreds of individuals, driven by hunger, had attempted to storm the Unrwa-operated vocational center in the southern city of Khan Younis, believing that aid had been delivered to that location. He quoted: “But the convoys were looted and there was absolutely nothing to take from the warehouses.” Unrwa issued an additional statement on X, alleging that Israeli authorities persist in their “disregard their legal obligations under international law to ensure the population’s basic needs are met and to facilitate the safe delivery of aid”. The statement continued: “Such responsibilities continue when trucks enter the Gaza Strip, until people are reached with essential assistance.” The Israeli military did not provide an immediate response. Previously, Cogat, the Israeli military body overseeing humanitarian affairs in the Gaza Strip, posted on X: “With the challenges the UN aid organisations experience in distributing aid, we are working together on various measures that will facilitate the transfer of aid from the Kerem Shalom crossing to Gazans in need.” Cogat further stated: “For months now, aid has been piling up on the Gazan side, after Israeli inspection, waiting for collection and distribution, and we’ve been taking many measures to assist with the pick-up of aid.” Israel has previously maintained that there are no restrictions on the volume of aid permitted to enter and traverse Gaza, and has accused Hamas of diverting aid, an accusation the group has refuted. In a report released last week, a coalition of 29 non-governmental organizations asserted that the looting of aid convoys resulted from “a consequence of Israel’s targeting of the remaining police forces in Gaza, scarcity of essential goods, lack of routes and closure of most crossing points, and the subsequent desperation of the population amid these dire conditions”. These organizations referenced media accounts indicating that “many incidents are taking place close by or in full view of Israeli forces, without them intervening, even when truck drivers asked for assistance”. Additionally on Monday, Palestinian authorities reported that Israeli strikes had resulted in the deaths of over 30 individuals throughout Gaza. A minimum of 17 fatalities were reported following a house being struck near Kamal Adwan hospital in the Beit Lahia Project, located in northern Gaza. The director of Gaza’s health ministry quoted Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, Kamal Adwan’s director, who stated that the deceased were relatives of Dr Hani Badran, one of the hospital’s medical staff. A video allegedly depicted Dr Badran receiving comfort in a hospital ward. Concurrently, the Hamas-administered Civil Defence agency announced that its emergency personnel had retrieved the remains of seven individuals from a residence hit in the north-west of Gaza City. The agency further reported that an Israeli strike on a tent within the Israeli-designated al-Mawasi humanitarian area in southern Gaza resulted in the deaths of four additional people, among them two children. Israel initiated a military campaign aimed at dismantling Hamas following the group’s unprecedented assault on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, an event that led to the deaths of approximately 1,200 people and the abduction of 251 others as hostages. According to the territory’s health ministry, over 43,920 individuals have been killed in Gaza since that date.