A convoy of the World Food Programme was attacked in Gaza on Thursday by armed men, the UN organization reports in a statement. Some of the relief supplies are said to have been seized. The Israeli army has attacked the group.
The trucks were en route to World Food Programme (WFP) bakeries in southern Gaza on Thursday evening when they were attacked, the UN organization said in a statement.
According to the BBC, the convoy consisted of twenty trucks. Fifteen of them are said to have been looted. It is not known how much of the cargo was seized.
Eyewitnesses tell the British broadcaster that the trucks were being escorted by members of Hamas. They would then have been ambushed by at least five unknown men. A firefight then ensued.
The Israeli army then carried out drone attacks. According to Hamas, six people were killed and an unknown number of people were injured. The militant movement says members were killed while performing humanitarian tasks.
The Israeli army says in a statement to The Times of Israel that the Hamas members did not aim to protect the aid convoy. The trucks themselves were not hit in the drone attack.
According to Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, the looting is no surprise. In a statement on X, he says that the despair among the population of Gaza is great.
According to the WFP, this despair contributes to the insecurity in the area. According to the organization, the transport routes must be better protected. The bakeries themselves also run the risk of a stampede, because only a handful are still active. There was another incident on Thursday.
Israel Denies There Is A Food Shortage in Gaza
Since this week, aid has been trickling into Gaza again. COGAT, the Israeli military agency that deals with Palestinian civil affairs, reports that 83 trucks were allowed in on Friday. A day earlier there were 107.
The organization also denies that there are food shortages in Gaza. According to COGAT, the UN, among others, is exaggerating the seriousness of the situation in the area. International aid organizations and many governments worldwide have expressed concern about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, especially due to food shortages and the lack of medical resources.
The fact that aid is entering Gaza does not mean that the aid can also be distributed directly to the population. Of the 107 truckloads from Thursday, only 35 could be picked up for distribution, reports UN aid organization OCHA.
According to the UN, at least five to six hundred trucks per day are needed to support the population of Gaza.