Israel halts aid into Gaza
Displaced Palestinian woman Fatmeh Jundieh sits inside a tent, holding one of her two-month-old twins, as she struggles to find formula milk and diapers amid ongoing shortages, in Gaza. Photo: REUTERS
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Israel has stopped aid from entering northern Gaza but is still allowing it to enter from the south, two officials said on Thursday after images circulated of masked men on aid trucks who clan leaders said were protecting aid, not Hamas stealing it.
A video circulating on Wednesday showed dozens of masked men, some armed with rifles but most carrying sticks, riding on aid trucks.
The US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which operates aid distribution sites in southern and central Gaza, said on X that it was the only humanitarian organization permitted on Thursday to distribute food in Gaza.
A spokesperson said the foundation was exempt from a two-day suspension of humanitarian aid deliveries into the territory.
The Israeli prime minister's office and the defense ministry did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment.
The Higher Commission for Tribal Affairs, which represents influential clans in Gaza, said that trucks had been protected as part of an aid security process managed "solely through tribal efforts".
The commission said that no Palestinian faction, a reference to Hamas, had taken part in the process. Hamas denied any involvement. Throughout the war, numerous clans, civil society groups and factions have stepped in to help provide security for the aid convoys.
Clans made up of extended families connected through blood and marriage have long been a fundamental part of Gazan society.
Amjad al-Shawa, director of an umbrella body for Palestinian non-governmental organisations, said the aid protected by clans on Wednesday was being distributed to vulnerable families. There is an acute shortage of food and other basic supplies after the nearly two-year military campaign by Israel that has displaced most of Gaza's two million inhabitants.
"The clans came ... to form a stance to prevent the aggressors and the thieves from stealing the food that belongs to our people," Abu Salman Al Moghani, a representative of Gazan clans, said.
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