UN says lots of trucks cleared into Gaza were looted by hungry residents

United Nations: A lot of trucks cleared into Gaza lately were looted by desperate Gazans, a UN spokesman said Friday.

“We moved another batch of around 100 full truckloads to Kerem Shalom (Karem Abu Salem) and picked up about 35 from the Palestinian side of the crossing to bring them closer to where people need them in Gaza,” said Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Six trucks containing flour were intercepted by residents and had their contents removed on Wednesday. The same thing happened to 15 trucks on Thursday night, Haq said. “And our understanding is that these are not instances of organised criminal looting. This is looting driven by people who are facing desperation and hunger.”

Israel has long argued that much of the international aid to Gazans was diverted by Hamas, the armed de facto authority in the strip with tacit approval by the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees. The United Nations strongly denied the allegation.

The spokesman said UN humanitarians are engaging with local communities to build trust to ensure that looting does not occur in the future. The best way to combat looting is for more aid to get in, which would help alleviate the desperation and hunger in the region.

In an encounter with reporters, the secretary-general echoed the call, saying that only a trickle of aid has finally crossed over after nearly 80 days in which relief for Gaza had been blocked by Israel.

Almost 400 trucks were cleared for entry to Gaza through the single crossing in recent days. However, supplies from only about 115 trucks were collected, and nothing reached the besieged north, said Guterres.

“All the aid authorized until now amounts to a teaspoon of aid when a flood of assistance is required,” he said. “The needs are massive, and the obstacles are staggering. Strict quotas are being imposed on the goods we distribute, along with unnecessary delay procedures.”

The UN chief said other essentials, including fuel, shelter, cooking gas, and water purification supplies, are prohibited.

“We continue to request for safety and security mitigation measures to be in place for our convoys,” he said.

Haq said the World Food Programme also appealed for support from Israeli authorities to get far greater volumes of assistance into Gaza faster, more consistently, and transported along safer routes.

The spokesman said that supplies collected outside Gaza usually reached the crossing a day or two earlier, because of the time-consuming checkpoint procedures.

“The truckload sizes don’t exactly match: Inside Gaza, our teams stack an extra layer of pallets on each truck (leaving the checkpoint) to make the most of the space,” he said, adding that deliveries on Thursday included more flour, nutrition items and medical supplies.

Even with all the challenges, Haq said, UN teams in Gaza report that the little aid that’s getting through is already reaching people in need. A handful of bakeries managed to fire up their ovens on Thursday, using the flour and fuel the UN provided.

“Our partners already picked up the bread for direct distribution,” he said. “And, in the south, a field hospital has received a much-needed batch of medical supplies this week.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the intensification of hostilities has pushed Gaza’s health system to the brink of collapse.

It cited Thursday’s attack on Al Awda Hospital in North Gaza, where patient triage tents, including one provided by the WHO, caught fire, burning all medical supplies in the warehouse and destroying vehicles in the basement. The WHO’s attempt to reach the hospital was impeded. Earlier on Friday, sources at the hospital reported the fire had not been fully extinguished.

The WHO said 4 percent of nearly 700 attacks on health care in Gaza since October 2023 were recorded over the past week alone. At least 94 percent of the hospitals in Gaza are now damaged or destroyed, and half of them are no longer operational.

The agency said that four major hospitals in Gaza (Kamal Adwan Hospital, Indonesia Hospital, Hamad Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetics, and European Gaza Hospital) had to suspend medical services in the past week due to their proximity to hostilities or evacuation zones and attacks.

Only 19 of the Gaza Strip’s 36 hospitals remain operational, including one hospital providing basic care for the remaining patients, and are struggling under severe supply shortages, lack of health workers, persistent insecurity, and a surge of casualties, all while staff work in impossible conditions. Of the 19 hospitals, 12 provide various health services, while the rest can only provide basic emergency care.