Gangs and merchants sell food aid in Gaza, where Israel's offensive has shattered security

San Francisco Chronicle​

11 hours ago

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Since Israel's offensive led to a security breakdown in Gaza that has made it nearly impossible to safely deliver food to starving Palestinians, much of the limited aid entering is being hoarded by gangs and merchants and sold at exorbitant prices.
A kilogram (2.2 pounds) of flour has run as high as $60 in recent days, a kilogram of lentils up to $35. That is beyond the means of most residents in the territory, which experts say is at risk of famine and where people are largely reliant on savings 21 months into the Israel-Hamas war.
Israel's decision this weekend to facilitate more aid deliveries — under international pressure — has lowered prices somewhat but has yet to be fully felt on the ground.
Bags of flour in markets often bear U.N. logos, while other packaging has markings indicating it came from the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation — all originally handed out for free. It's impossible to know how much is being diverted, but neither group is able to track who receives its aid.
In the melees surrounding aid distributions in recent weeks, residents say the strong were best positioned to come away with food.
Mohammed Abu Taha, who lives in a tent with his wife and child near the city of Rafah, said organized gangs of young men are always at the front of crowds when he visits GHF sites.
'It's a huge business,' he said.
The U.N. says up to 100,000 women and children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition, aid groups and media outlets say their own staffers are going hungry, and Gaza's Health Ministry says dozens of Palestinians have died from hunger-related causes in the last three weeks.
When the U.N. gets Israeli permission to distribute aid, its convoys are nearly always attacked by armed gangs or overwhelmed by hungry crowds in the buffer zone controlled by the military.
The U.N.'s World Food Program said last week it will only be able to safely deliver aid to the most vulnerable once internal security is restored — likely only under a ceasefire.
'In the meantime, given the urgent need for families to access food, WFP will accept hungry populations taking food from its trucks, as long as there is no violence,' spokesperson Abeer Etifa said.
In the alternative delivery system operated by GHF, an American contractor, Palestinians often run a deadly gantlet.
More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops while seeking food since May, mainly near the GHF sites, according to the U.N. human rights office, witnesses and local health officials. The military says it has only fired warning shots when people approach its forces, while GHF says its security contractors have only used pepper spray or fired in the air on some occasions to prevent stampedes.
'You have to be strong and fast'
A man in his 30s, who insisted on anonymity for fear of reprisal, said he had visited GHF sites about 40 times since they opened and nearly always came back with food. He sold most of it to merchants or other people in order to buy other necessities for his family.
Heba Jouda, who has visited the sites many times, said armed men steal aid as people return with it and merchants also offer to buy it.
'To get food from the American organization, you have to be strong and fast," she said.
Footage shot by Palestinians at GHF sites and shared broadly shows chaotic scenes, with crowds of men racing down fenced-in corridors and scrambling to grab boxes off the ground. GHF says it has installed separate lanes for women and children and is ramping up programs to deliver aid directly to communities.
The U.N.'s deliveries also often devolve into deadly violence and chaos, with crowds of thousands rapidly overwhelming trucks in close proximity to Israeli troops. The U.N. does not accept protection from Israel, saying it prefers to rely on community support.
The Israeli military did not respond to emails seeking comment about the reselling of aid. Israel denies allowing looters to operate in areas it controls and accuses Hamas of prolonging the war by not surrendering.
'There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza,' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday.
The situation changed dramatically in March
For much of the war, U.N. agencies were able to safely deliver aid, despite Israeli restrictions and occasional attacks and theft. Hamas-led police guarded convoys and went after suspected looters and merchants who resold aid.
During a ceasefire earlier this year, Israel allowed up to 600 aid trucks to enter daily. There were no major disruptions in deliveries, and food prices were far lower.
The U.N. said it had mechanisms in place to prevent any organized diversion of aid. But Israel says Hamas was siphoning it off, though it has provided no evidence of widespread theft.
That all changed in March, when Israel ended the ceasefire and halted all imports, including food. Israel seized large parts of Gaza in what it said was a tactic to pressure Hamas into releasing hostages abducted in its Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war.
As the Hamas-run police vanished from areas under Israeli control, local tribes and gangs — some of which Israel says it supports — took over, residents say.
Israel began allowing a trickle of aid to enter in May. GHF was set up that month with the stated goal of preventing Hamas from diverting aid.
Since then, Israel has allowed an average of about 70 trucks a day, compared to the 500-600 the U.N. says are needed. The military said Saturday it would allow more trucks in — 180 entered Sunday — and international airdrops have resumed, which aid organizations say are largely ineffective.
Meanwhile, food distribution continues to be plagued by chaos and violence, as seen near GHF sites or around U.N. trucks.
Even if Israel pauses its military operations during the day, it's unclear how much the security situation will improve.
With both the U.N. and GHF, it's possible Hamas members are among the crowds.
In response to questions from The Associated Press, GHF acknowledged that but said its system prevents the organized diversion of aid.
'The real concern we are addressing is not whether individual actors manage to receive food, but whether Hamas is able to systematically control aid flows. At GHF sites, they cannot,' it said.
Hamas has denied stealing aid. It's unclear if it's involved in the trade in aid, but its fighters would be taking a major risk by operating in a coordinated way in Israeli military zones that U.N. trucks pass through and where GHF sites are located.
The UN says the only solution is a ceasefire
U.N. officials have called on Israel to fully lift the blockade and flood Gaza with food. That would reduce the incentive for looting by ensuring enough for everyone and driving down prices.
Another ceasefire would include a major increase in aid and the release of Israeli hostages, but talks have stalled.
Hamas started the war when its fighters stormed into Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 hostages. Fifty captives are still being held in Gaza.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 59,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which has said women and children make up more than half the dead. It does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and is run by medical professionals. Israel has disputed its figures without providing its own.