A convoy of 109 UN aid trucks carrying food was heavily looted in Gaza on Saturday, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) said.
Ninety-seven trucks were missing and drivers were forced to unload aid after passing through the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom border crossing with southern Gaza, in what was said to be one of the worst incidents of the year. this type.
Witnesses said the convoy was attacked by masked men throwing grenades.
Unrwa Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini did not identify the perpetrators, but he said the “complete breakdown of civil order” in Gaza meant it “became an unworkable environment.”
According to Unrwa, without immediate intervention, severe food shortages will worsen for the two million people who depend on humanitarian aid to survive.
A United Nations-backed assessment warned earlier this month that there is “a strong possibility that famine is imminent in the northern areas of the Gaza Strip”.
It comes after Israeli forces launched a major ground offensive in the north and the United Nations said fewer aid trucks entered Gaza last month than at any time since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in October 2023.
Saturday’s looting was first reported by Reuters news agency, which quoted an Unrwa official in Gaza as saying that the convoy had been instructed by Israeli authorities to “depart shortly via an unfamiliar route”. ” from Kerem Shalom.
Lazzarini said he could not comment on the route when asked at a news conference in Geneva on Monday, but he confirmed the looting and said: “We have long warned of a complete breakdown of order.” civil self”.
“Until four or five months ago, we still had local capabilities, convoy escorts. This has completely disappeared, which means we are in an environment where local gangs, local families are fighting each other for control of any business or activity. Which takes place in the South. It has become an unworkable environment.”
He added that hundreds of people in need of food tried to storm a vocational training center run by Unrwa in the southern city of Khan Younis because they believed aid had been delivered there.
“But the convoys were looted and there was absolutely nothing to take from the warehouses.”
Unrwa issued a separate statement on for the safe delivery of aid.”
“Such responsibilities continue when trucks enter the Gaza Strip, until the population is given the necessary assistance.”
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Previously, the Israeli military agency responsible for humanitarian issues in the Gaza Strip, Cogat, said on X: “Given the challenges that UN aid organizations face in distributing aid aid, we are jointly implementing various measures to facilitate the transfer of aid from other countries. Kerem Shalom crossed the sea to the people of Gaza in need.”
“For months now, aid has been piling up on the Gazan side, after Israeli inspection, awaiting collection and distribution, and we have taken many measures to facilitate its receipt,” it added.
Israel has previously insisted there is no limit to the amount of aid that can be delivered to and through Gaza, and has accused Hamas of stealing aid, which the group has denied.
Last week, a group of 29 NGOs said in a report that the looting of aid convoys was “a consequence of Israel’s targeting of the remaining police force in Gaza, the scarcity of essential goods, lack of routes and closure of most intersections.” , and the subsequent desperation of the people in these dire conditions.”
They cited media reports that “many incidents are taking place near or in the presence of Israeli forces without their intervention, even when truck drivers request ask for support”.
Also on Monday, the Palestinian Authority said Israeli attacks killed more than 30 people across Gaza.
At least 17 people were reported killed when a house was attacked near Kamal Adwan hospital in the Beit Lahia Project, northern Gaza.
The director of the Gaza Ministry of Health quoted Kamal Adwan Director Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya as saying that those who died were family members of one of the hospital’s doctors, Dr. Hani Badran. A video allegedly shows Dr. Badran being comforted in a hospital room.
Meanwhile, the Hamas-run Civil Defense said its first responders recovered the bodies of seven people from an attacked house northwest of Gaza City.
Four other people, including two children, were killed in an Israeli attack on a tent inside the Israeli-designated al-Mawasi humanitarian zone in southern Gaza, they added.
Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which left about 1,200 people dead and 251 others taken hostage.
According to the territory’s Ministry of Health, more than 43,920 people have died in Gaza since then.
