15 aid trucks looted in Gaza, says UN, amid dozens more deaths in Israeli strikes

Fifteen aid lorries from the World Food Programme (WFP) have been looted in the south of the Gaza Strip, the United Nations agency said on Friday. The WFP stated that the looting occurred on Thursday evening, when the transporters were on their way to bakeries supported by the programme. The agency did not provide details on who stole the deliveries, while Israel has not yet commented on the incident. “Hunger, desperation and anxiety over whether more food aid is coming is contributing to rising insecurity,” said a WFP statement. “We need support from the Israeli authorities to get far greater volumes of food assistance into Gaza faster, more consistently, and transported along safer routes, as was done during the ceasefire.” Some bakeries in Deir al-Balah in the centre of the Gaza Strip and in Khan Younis in the south have recently resumed baking bread with delivered flour. However, aid workers warn that the delivered amounts of aid are far from sufficient. Without immediate measures, some 2 million people face extreme hunger and famine, according to the WFP. Israel lifted a nearly three-month blockade on humanitarian aid at the beginning of the week. The country accuses the Palestinian militant organisation Hamas of stealing the aid and selling it at high prices to finance its fighters and weapons. Meanwhile, at least 60 people were killed by Israeli strikes across Gaza in a 24-hour period, Gaza’s health ministry said on Friday, as Israel pressed ahead with its military offensive and let in minimal aid to the strip. The dead included 10 people in the southern city of Khan Younis, four in the central town of Deir al-Balah and nine in the Jabaliya refugee camp in the north, according to the Nasser, Al-Aqsa and Al-Ahli hospitals where the bodies were brought. Israel is facing mounting international criticism for its latest offensive and pressure to let aid into Gaza amid a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. The strip has been under an Israeli blockade for nearly three months, according to the United Nations. Experts have warned that many of Gaza’s two million residents are at high risk of famine. Even the United States, a staunch ally, has voiced concerns over the hunger crisis. The strikes that lasted into Friday morning came a day after Israeli tanks and drones attacked a hospital in northern Gaza, igniting fires and causing extensive damage, Palestinian hospital officials said on Thursday. Videos taken by a health official at Al-Awda Hospital show walls blown away and thick black smoke billowing from wreckage. Israel said it will continue to strike until Hamas releases all of the 58 remaining Israeli hostages and disarms. Fewer than half of the hostages still in Gaza are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were returned in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Amid pressure, Israel has started letting in aid. Israeli officials said Friday they let in more than 100 trucks of aid, including flour, food, medical equipment and drugs. The trucks came in through the Kerem Shalom crossing. But UN agencies say the amount is woefully insufficient, compared with around 600 trucks a day that entered during a recent ceasefire and that are necessary to meet basic needs. They say Israeli military restrictions and the breakdown of law and order in Gaza make it difficult to retrieve and distribute the aid. As a result, little of it has so far reached those in need. Israel says the aid now is to bridge the gap until a US backed initiative starts soon. A group known as the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation will take over aid distribution in Gaza, and armed private contractors will guard the distribution. Israel says the system is needed because Hamas siphons off significant amounts of aid. The UN denies that claim. On Friday a Geneva-based advocacy group said it was taking legal action to urge Swiss authorities to monitor the foundation. TRIAL International, which focuses on international justice, said it made legal submissions to make sure that the privately run foundation, which is listed in the Geneva commercial registry, abides by Swiss law, notably on the activities of private security groups. A spokesman for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said that it adheres by humanitarian principles and that its operations are free from Israeli control. It said the foundation was not a military operation and its decision to integrate armed security contractors allows it the ability to access and operate in Gaza. The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel in October 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 others. Israel’s retaliatory offensive, which has destroyed large swathes of Gaza, has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count. Palestinians in the village of Bruqin, in the northern West Bank, said Israeli settlers attacked them on Thursday afternoon, burning cars and damaging houses. “We’ve been suffering since Wednesday from settler attacks and assaults – verbal abuse, stone throwing, and constant harassment at all times,” said Mustafa Khater, whose house was attacked. He said he had previously evacuated his wife and four children for fear of attacks, but had stayed behind to protect the house. The war in Gaza has sparked a surge of violence in the West Bank, with the Israeli military carrying out large-scale operations targeting militants that have killed hundreds of Palestinians and displaced tens of thousands. That has coincided with a rise in settler violence and Palestinian attacks on Israelis. Additional reporting by Associated Press

15 aid trucks looted in Gaza, says UN, amid dozens more deaths in Israeli strikes

Raids were motivated by ‘hunger, desperation and anxiety’, and support from the Israeli authorities is needed, the World Food Programme said