Nearly 100 Gaza aid lorries carrying food are looted, UN says

Of the 109 lorries delivering aid, only 11 made it safely to the warehouse after Israel re-routed convoy

Lorries carrying humanitarian aid cross into the Gaza Strip from Erez crossing in southern Israel on October 21. AP

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A convoy of lorries delivering food supplies to Gaza was looted inside the enclave, causing severe damage to the vehicles and widespread loss of cargo, a UN spokesman told reporters in New York on Monday.

Stephane Dujarric said of the 109 lorries delivering aid for the World Food Programme and the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), only 11 made it safely to the warehouse in Deir Al Balah. Humanitarian workers were ordered at gunpoint to unload aid, UNRWA said in a post on X.

The convoy, originally scheduled for November 17, was redirected by Israel on “short notice via an alternate, unfamiliar route”, Mr Dujarric told reporters.

When asked why Israel had approved the convoy's departure a day earlier than planned, Mr Dujarric directed reporters to Israeli authorities. The National has contacted the Israeli military and Cogat, the agency in charge of overseeing civilian policy in the West Bank and logistical co-ordination with Gaza, for comment.

“We continue to face severe access challenges in bringing aid into southern and central Gaza. These challenges remain despite several attempts to overcome them, such as repairing an alternative road and using a new border point, which is the Kissufim crossing,” Mr Dujarric said.

“However, whether it's Kissufim or Kerem Shalom [Karam Abu Salem] and surrounding routes, they have proved unworkable due to ongoing security issues. They are entirely insufficient to ensure the sustained flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.”

UNRWA said that Israel had given “no reason” for a change in route for the convoy.

“This is an area where we’ve seen an increase in looting over the last few months – and it all comes down to when the Rafah border was closed coinciding with a huge drop in aid and increase in criminal activity and looting because of an environment that’s been created where society has collapsed and there’s very little in terms of law and order,” spokeswoman Louise Wateridge told The National from Nuseirat in central Gaza on Monday.

Ms Wateridge said the agency does not know what has happened to the looted aid and accused Israel of “disregarding their legal obligations” to create a safe environment through which to distribute aid.

“Reinforcement of criminal activities and lawlessness is happening … if there’s no police enforcement then criminals will rise and this happens with desperation,” she said.

People have been “begging for flour”, she said, and even those whose financial situation is slightly better will not be able to find fruit and vegetables in the market.

Aid agencies are “just as frustrated” as the people, Ms Wateridge said. She said humanitarian workers are sitting at checkpoints for “seven hours” at a time before being told by Israeli authorities that they cannot bring aid in.

A senior police official in Gaza told The National that criminal gangs are “strangely unchallenged” by Israeli forces, particularly in the south, which the official said is rife with crime.

“Since aid began entering, we devised plans for secure corridors to deliver supplies to storage. But over time, organised and armed gangs emerged, operating from locations close to Israeli positions,” the police official said. “When we attempt to intercept them, our security teams are immediately targeted [by Israeli forces].”

Gaza's Interior Ministry said on Monday that at least 20 people had been killed in “security operation” against gangs that were looting aid vehicles, AFP reported.

“Today's security operation will not be the last,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that “the phenomenon of truck thefts … has severely impacted society and led to signs of famine in southern Gaza”.