Starving Palestinians looting aid trucks driving through Gaza

AID trucks going into Gaza are being looted out of “utter desperation” as they drive through what is now being described as a “death zone”.

Dozens of people in Gaza can be seen clambering over a moving open-top lorry and grabbing large bags of flour in one video posted online. Drivers of the trucks also sometimes face beatings, according to one non-governmental organisation (NGO).

Jonathan Fowler, a spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, said: “In most cases, when food does get taken directly from convoys, it’s because of utter desperation, with people even eating it on the spot.”

The situation is particularly critical in northern Gaza, where an estimated 300,000 people are living with very little assistance. Acute malnutrition has already been identified in more than 16 per cent of children there, above the threshold considered critical, according to the UN. This week, the UN’S World Food Programme (WFP) said it had been forced to pause deliveries to the area because of “complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order”.

Two separate convoys faced looters and gunfire, with one driver being beaten, according to WFP.

“We’ve had to make the impossible choice to pause aid distributions in northern Gaza. There’s an incredible level of desperation against the backdrop of immense humanitarian need,” Cindy Mccain, the WFP’S executive director, said on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday.

“A famine doesn’t have to happen. But if things don’t change, it will,” she added. “Gaza has become a death zone,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization, said this week.

The lootings began about a month ago but have increased in the last few weeks as fewer and fewer aid trucks have entered Gaza. Most appear to be spontaneous, although some have reportedly involved organised and armed gangs.

WFP has urged Israel to open its northern border crossing with Gaza to allow more aid to enter the area instead of being funnelled through Rafah which borders Egypt. “Lawlessness breeds lawlessness,” Jamie Mcgoldrick, the UN’S humanitarian coordinator for the Middle East, told the Financial Times.

“If we were able to secure a regular supply, and people saw trucks coming in all the time, they wouldn’t worry that ‘this may be my only chance to feed my family’.” The northernmost border was, however, destroyed by Hamas and other terrorists on Oct 7 when they stormed the Erez crossing.

Israel said that it had helped facilitate the air drop of four tons of humanitarian aid from Britain and Jordan into northern Gaza on Wednesday. “The aid included medicines, fuel, and food for the Jordanian hospital in Gaza,” the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories said yesterday.

“There is no limit to the amount of medical supplies that can enter Gaza, including anaesthetics and other medical needs.

“We coordinated and facilitated medical supplies for everyday medical necessities as well as for specific medical needs, such as a large variety of vaccines,” it added.

Israel has insisted that it is not restricting aid flows, and has instead criticised the UN for not being able to handle delivery logistics. It has also accused Hamas of stealing 60 per cent of the humanitarian aid being brought in. It has not presented evidence to support that claim.

‘A famine doesn’t have to happen, but if things don’t change it will. Gaza has become a death zone’