U.N. trucks delivering food to Gaza were stopped and looted overnight, Gaza residents and merchants reported on Wednesday, just hours after desperate Palestinians overwhelmed a distribution site run by a U.S.-backed group attempting to initiate aid deliveries.
These incidents underscore the significant challenges in providing essential supplies to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians facing escalating hunger and starvation following weeks of an Israeli blockade.
On Tuesday, Israeli troops fired warning shots as crowds surged towards a distribution point managed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S.-backed organization that began distributing aid under a new system that Israel hopes will prevent aid from reaching Hamas.
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The United Nations and other international aid organizations have declined to participate in the new system, arguing that it violates the principle of neutral aid distribution based solely on need.
Despite the launch of the new system, the Israeli military also permitted 95 trucks belonging to the U.N. and other aid groups to enter Gaza. However, three Gaza residents and three merchants reported that a number of these trucks were targeted by looters.
One Palestinian transport operator stated that at least 20 trucks belonging to the U.N. World Food Programme were attacked shortly before midnight.
“Some trucks made it through, then it seems that people became aware of that,” one witness told Reuters via a chat app, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. “They woke up, some placed barriers on the road intercepted and stole the goods.”
Israeli forces, which resumed their operation in Gaza in March following a brief truce, continued strikes on Wednesday, resulting in the deaths of at least 15 people, including eight members of a local journalist’s family, according to Palestinian health officials.
To qualify for aid under the new system, individuals seeking food are required to undergo screening to ensure they have no connections to Hamas, a measure that has heightened Palestinian suspicion of the operation. However, witnesses on Tuesday reported that no effective identification process appeared to be in place.
“What we saw yesterday was a very clear example of the dangers of distributing food,” said Ajith Sunghay, Head of the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. “We are exposing people to death and injury,” he told reporters in Geneva, adding that 47 people had been wounded by gunfire as the chaos unfolded.
Footage shared on social media showed fences being broken down by crowds attempting to reach crates of supplies as private security contractors operating the site retreated.
“I am a big man, but I couldn’t hold back my tears when I saw the images of women, men, and children racing for some food,” said Rabah Rezik, 65, a father of seven from Gaza City.
Israel imposed the blockade on aid supplies in March, accusing Hamas of seizing supplies intended for civilians, an accusation Hamas denies. U.N. officials have stated that they have seen no evidence that the militant group has been looting trucks since Israel eased the blockade this month under mounting international pressure.
However, Hamas has instructed people in Gaza not to go to the four distribution points in southern Gaza established for the new system. It has denied accusations from Israel that it is blocking access to the sites.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, described it as “sad and disgusting” that the United Nations and other groups were not participating in the new system to distribute aid. “There were lines of people that got food which was not stolen by Hamas. The manner in which it was distributed is effective so far,” he told Reuters.
Israel has faced increasing pressure over the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, even from countries that have been historically reluctant to voice strong criticism. France, Britain, and Germany have indicated that they may take action if the military campaign is not halted. On Wednesday, Italy also stated that the offensive had become unacceptable and must cease immediately.
Israel initiated its campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on communities in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,200 people and the abduction of 251 hostages into Gaza. Its assault has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians and reduced much of the densely populated coastal enclave to rubble, with the population of over 2 million now confined to narrow areas along the coast and around the southern city of Khan Younis.
