Palestinians reject Israeli claims of Hamas looting Gaza aid
GAZA CITY: A committee representing influential families in Gaza on Thursday rejected Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's accusation that some aid entering the war-torn Palestinian territory was being looted by Hamas.
After Israel imposed a more than two-month blockade on Gaza, aid began being allowed in at a trickle in late May.
Rights groups say Gaza and its population of more than two million face famine-like conditions due to Israeli restrictions, with chaotic scenes and near-daily deaths marring aid distribution.
In a joint statement with Defense Minister Israel Katz published late Wednesday, Netanyahu said there was 'information received today indicating that Hamas is once again taking control of humanitarian aid entering the northern Gaza Strip and stealing it from civilians.'
He announced that he had instructed the military to draft a plan 'to prevent Hamas from seizing the aid.'
A statement from Gaza's higher committee for tribal affairs — a non-Hamas affiliated committee created during the war — on Thursday rejected the claim that Hamas was stealing aid.
'Gaza's tribal leaders affirmed that all aid is fully secured under their direct supervision and is being distributed exclusively through international agencies,' the committee representing influential families said.
'The securing of aid has been carried out purely through tribal efforts,' it added.
The statement rejected Netanyahu's comments as 'false claims' and called for a United Nations delegation to determine if aid was being correctly dispatched in Gaza.
AFP footage from Wednesday showed a truck convoy led by a UN vehicle carrying aid into northern Gaza after entering through the Zikim gate, south of the Israeli city of Ashkelon.
Masked and armed young men could be seen riding atop the large aid bundles on the five trucks.
The men told AFP they were protecting the convoy from being looted before reaching its final destination.
Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir shared a video on Telegram on Thursday appearing to show masked, armed men standing on top of aid trucks.
'Today, what was known all along is becoming clear: Hamas is taking control of the food and goods,' the caption said, calling on Netanyahu to halt the entry of aid into Gaza.
AFP could not independently verify whether the video shared by Ben Gvir showed a truck after being looted by Hamas or being protected from theft by locals.
Israel began allowing a trickle of aid into Gaza at the end of May, much of it going through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and bypassing the UN-led distribution mechanism.
An officially private effort with opaque funding, GHF's operations have been marred by chaotic scenes, deaths and neutrality concerns, with the UN and major aid groups refusing to work with it.
The GHF has denied responsibility for deaths near its aid points.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
18 minutes ago
- Al Arabiya
Khamenei avoided assassination by going underground, Israel says
Israel would have killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei were it possible during the countries' 12-day war, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday. 'I estimate that if Khamenei had been in our sights, we would have taken him out,' Katz said in the interview with Israel's Kan public television. 'But Khamenei understood this, went underground to very great depths, and broke off contacts with the commanders who replaced those commanders who were eliminated, so it wasn't realistic in the end,' he said. Israel killed several top Iranian commanders and nuclear scientists on June 13 at the start of the war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump had both suggested at various times during the air war that Khamenei's life could be in danger as regime change could be a result of the war that ended with a US-brokered ceasefire on Tuesday.
Al Arabiya
36 minutes ago
- Al Arabiya
Iran strikes damage hard to assess under Israeli military censorship
Israel has acknowledged being hit by more than 50 missiles during the 12-day war with Iran, but the true extent of the damage may never be known due to stringent press restrictions. Such regulations are nothing new in Israel, where any written or visual publication deemed potentially harmful to the loosely defined concept of 'national security' can be banned by law. Censorship predates the creation of Israel in 1948, when the territory was under a British mandate. But with the recent missile barrages from Iran that managed to breach Israel's vaunted air defenses and kill 28 people, the restrictions were further tightened. Any broadcast from a 'combat zone or missile impact site' requires written authorization from the military censor, according to the Israeli Government Press Office, which is responsible for government communications and for accrediting journalists. This requirement is particularly stringent when strikes land near military bases, oil refineries, or other facilities deemed strategic. 'There is, of course, a very real national security dimension. You don't want to tell the enemy exactly where its bombs landed, or help them improve targeting,' said Jerome Bourdon, professor of media sociology at Tel Aviv University. 'But this also maintains uncertainty around the country's vulnerability to external threats. We probably will never know the full extent of the damage,' he added. Reverse the narrative Most of the government's communication during the war focused on its military successes, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday praising a 'historic victory' over Iran. For Bourdon, the tightening of media coverage also reflects 'a very clear desire to reverse the narrative,' at a time when Israel faces harsh international criticism over its war in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands and triggered dire humanitarian conditions. On June 19, Defense Minister Israel Katz accused Tehran of 'deliberately targeting hospitals and residential buildings' after a hospital in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba was hit, injuring around 40 people. Katz accused Iran of 'the most serious war crimes,' while Iran denied intentionally targeting the health center. Meanwhile, human rights defenders regularly condemn Israel's destruction of the healthcare system in Gaza and the targeting of hospitals under the claim that they are used by Palestinian militants. During the war with Iran, media coverage near sites of missile strikes in Israel's civilian areas was occasionally hindered, as foreign reporters were prevented from filming wide shots or specifying the exact location of the impacts. In the central Israeli city of Ramat Gan, police interrupted the live broadcast of two Western news agencies filming a gutted building, suspecting them of providing the footage to Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera. Israel banned the outlet in May 2024, alleging it has ties with Palestinian militant group Hamas, which Al Jazeera has denied. Illegal content In a statement, police said they had acted to stop the broadcast of 'illegal content' in accordance with the 'policy' of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. The far-right cabinet member, known for his incendiary rhetoric against critics, vowed on June 16 to take tough action against anyone who 'undermines the security of the state.' 'Zero tolerance for those who help the enemy,' echoed Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi. The two ministers 'make claims that exceed the legal framework of their powers, and also are very, very extreme,' said Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler, a researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute. 'Usually, they make a lot of noise' in order to 'get political gain from this publicity,' she told AFP. Beyond political calculations, 'these officials show a deep mistrust, a real hostility toward the liberal Israeli media, and especially toward the foreign media,' said professor Bourdon. The Government Press Office on Thursday reaffirmed its commitment to 'freedom of the press... as a fundamental right' and insisted it makes 'no distinction between Israeli and non-Israeli journalists.'
Arab News
2 hours ago
- Arab News
Germany scraps funding for sea rescues of migrants
'I don't think it's the foreign office's job to finance this kind of sea rescue,' Wadephul said'We need to be active where the need is greatest'BERLIN: Germany is cutting financial support for charities that rescue migrants at risk of drowning in the Mediterranean, saying it will redirect resources to addressing conditions in source countries that spur people to decades, migrants driven by war and poverty have made perilous crossings to reach Europe's southern borders, with thousands estimated to die every year in their bid to reach a continent grown increasingly hostile to migration.'Germany is committed to being humane and will help where people suffer but I don't think it's the foreign office's job to finance this kind of sea rescue,' Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told a news conference.'We need to be active where the need is greatest,' he added, mentioning the humanitarian emergency in war-shattered the previous left-leaning government, Germany began paying around 2 million euros ($2.34 million) annually to non-governmental organizations carrying out rescues of migrant-laden boats in trouble at them, it has been a key source of funds: Germany's Sea-Eye, which said rescue charities have saved 175,000 lives since 2015, received around 10 percent of its total income of around 3.2 million euros from the German Friedrich Merz's conservatives won February's national election after a campaign promising to curb irregular migration, which some voters in Europe's largest economy see as being out of though the overall numbers have been falling for several years, many Germans blame migration-related fears for the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), now the second largest party in experts say that migration levels are mainly driven by economic and humanitarian emergencies in the source countries, with the official cold shoulder in destination countries having had little impact in deterring this, German officials suggest that sea rescues only incentivise people to risk the sometimes deadly crossings.'The (government) support made possible extra missions and very concretely saved lives,' said Gorden Isler, Sea-Eye's chairperson. 'We might now have to stay in harbor despite emergencies.'The opposition Greens, who controlled the foreign office when the subsidies were introduced, criticized the move.'This will exacerbate the humanitarian crisis and deepen human suffering,' said joint floor leader Britta Hasselmann.
