Chaos, Gangs, Gunfire: Gaza Aid Fails To Reach Most Needy
After images of malnourished children stoked an international outcry, aid has started to be delivered to the territory once more but on a scale deemed woefully insufficient by international organisations.
Every day, AFP correspondents on the ground see desperate crowds rushing towards food convoys or the sites of aid drops by Arab and European air forces.
On Thursday, in Al-Zawayda in central Gaza, emaciated Palestinians rushed to pallets parachuted from a plane, jostling and tearing packages from each other in a cloud of dust.
"Hunger has driven people to turn on each other. People are fighting each other with knives," Amir Zaqot, who came seeking aid, told AFP.
To avoid disturbances, World Food Programme (WFP) drivers have been instructed to stop before their intended destination and let people help themselves. But to no avail.
"A truck wheel almost crushed my head, and I was injured retrieving the bag," sighed a man, carrying a bag of flour on his head, in the Zikim area, in the northern Gaza Strip.
Mohammad Abu Taha went at dawn to a distribution site near Rafah in the south to join the queue and reserve his spot. He said there were already "thousands waiting, all hungry, for a bag of flour or a little rice and lentils."
"Suddenly, we heard gunshots..... There was no way to escape. People started running, pushing and shoving each other, children, women, the elderly," said the 42-year-old. "The scene was truly tragic: blood everywhere, wounded, dead."
Nearly 1,400 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip while waiting for aid since May 27, the majority by the Israeli army, the United Nations said on Friday.
The Israeli army denies any targeting, insisting it only fires "warning shots" when people approach too close to its positions.
International organisations have for months condemned the restrictions imposed by the Israeli authorities on aid distribution in Gaza, including refusing to issue border crossing permits, slow customs clearance, limited access points, and imposing dangerous routes.
On Tuesday, in Zikim, the Israeli army "changed loading plans for WFP, mixing cargo unexpectedly. The convoy was forced to leave early, without proper security," said a senior UN official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
In the south of Gaza, at the Kerem Shalom border crossing, "there are two possible routes to reach our warehouses (in central Gaza)," said an NGO official, who also preferred to remain anonymous. "One is fairly safe, the other is regularly the scene of fighting and looting, and that's the one we're forced to take."
Some of the aid is looted by gangs -- who often directly attack warehouses -- and diverted to traders who resell it at exorbitant prices, according to several humanitarian sources and experts.
"It becomes this sort of Darwinian social experiment of the survival of the fittest," said Muhammad Shehada, visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).
"People who are the most starved in the world and do not have the energy must run and chase after a truck and wait for hours and hours in the sun and try to muscle people and compete for a bag of flour," he said.
Jean Guy Vataux, emergency coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Gaza, added: "We're in an ultra-capitalist system, where traders and corrupt gangs send kids to risk life and limb at distribution points or during looting. It's become a new profession."
This food is then resold to "those who can still afford it" in the markets of Gaza City, where the price of a 25-kilogramme bag of flour can exceed $400, he added.
Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of looting aid supplied by the UN, which has been delivering the bulk of aid since the start of the war triggered by the militant group's October 2023 attack.
The Israeli authorities have used this accusation to justify the total blockade they imposed on Gaza between March and May, and the subsequent establishment of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private organisation supported by Israel and the United States which has become the main aid distributor, sidelining UN agencies.
However, for more than two million inhabitants of Gaza the GHF has just four distribution points, which the UN describes as a "death trap".
"Hamas... has been stealing aid from the Gaza population many times by shooting Palestinians," said the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.
But according to senior Israeli military officials quoted by the New York Times on July 26, Israel "never found proof" that the group had "systematically stolen aid" from the UN.
Weakened by the war with Israel which has seen most of its senior leadership killed, Hamas today is made up of "basically decentralised autonomous cells" said Shehada.
He said while Hamas militants still hunker down in each Gaza neighbourhood in tunnels or destroyed buildings, they are not visible on the ground "because Israel has been systematically going after them".
Aid workers told AFP that during the ceasefire that preceded the March blockade, the Gaza police -- which includes many Hamas members -- helped secure humanitarian convoys, but that the current power vacuum was fostering insecurity and looting.
"UN agencies and humanitarian organisations have repeatedly called on Israeli authorities to facilitate and protect aid convoys and storage sites in our warehouses across the Gaza Strip," said Bushra Khalidi, policy lead at Oxfam.
"These calls have largely been ignored," she added.
The Israeli army is also accused of having equipped Palestinian criminal networks in its fight against Hamas and of allowing them to plunder aid.
"The real theft of aid since the beginning of the war has been carried out by criminal gangs, under the watch of Israeli forces, and they were allowed to operate in proximity to the Kerem Shalom crossing point into Gaza," Jonathan Whittall, Palestinian territories chief of the UN humanitarian office (OCHA), told reporters in May.
According to Israeli and Palestinian media reports, an armed group called the Popular Forces, made up of members of a Bedouin tribe led by Yasser Abu Shabab, is operating in the southern region under Israeli control.
The ECFR describes Abu Shabab as leading a "criminal gang operating in the Rafah area that is widely accused of looting aid trucks".
The Israeli authorities themselves acknowledged in June that they had armed Palestinian gangs opposed to Hamas, without directly naming the one led by Abu Shabab.
Michael Milshtein, head of the Palestinian Studies Forum at the Moshe Dayan Center of Tel Aviv University, said many of the gang's members were implicated in "all kinds of criminal activities, drug smuggling, and things like that".
"None of this can happen in Gaza without the approval, at least tacit, of the Israeli army," said a humanitarian worker in Gaza, asking not to be named. Air drops such as those carried out by France are not seen as sufficient AFP Palestinians rush towards the aid drops AFP There has been chaos at the food distribution points run by the GHF AFP Food is distributed in chaotic fashion AFP The price of flour has soared on the black market AFP
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Int'l Business Times
5 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
Far-right German MP's Ex-aide On Trial For Spying For China
Two suspected spies for China, including a former assistant to far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) lawmaker Maximilian Krah, went on trial in the eastern city of Dresden on Tuesday. The German national Jian Guo allegedly worked for Chinese intelligence from 2002, including while working in the office of then-MEP Krah between 2019 and 2024. He is accused of using that position to pass on more than 500 documents, some deemed highly sensitive, to Beijing as well as information about decisions and debates at the European Parliament. Guo is also accused of being the handler for a second alleged operative, a Chinese national partially named as Yaqi X., who is accused of spying on German arms manufacturers. Prosecutor Stephan Morweiser told reporters that the case was "without precedent" in terms of Chinese spying activity in Germany. He said it was "particularly serious" as it shed light on "the extensive espionage interests that China has in relation to political, military and economic matters in Germany and the EU". Guo is also suspected of gathering intelligence on leading AfD politicians and spying on Chinese dissidents in Germany. This included posing as an opponent of the Chinese government on social media in order to gain contacts in the opposition scene. Guo's lawyer denied the charges on his behalf as the trial opened. The second defendant, Yaqi X., worked at a company which provided Leipzig airport with logistics services and is accused of helping Guo access information on flights and passengers. The information she passed on focused on flights transporting defence equipment and "people with links to a German arms company". According to German media reports, she particularly targeted arms giant Rheinmetall, which is involved in making Leopard tanks and which uses Leipzig airport for cargo flights. Morweiser, the prosecutor, said that, if found guilty, Guo faces a jail term of up to 10 years while Yaqi X. could be imprisoned for up to five years. In recent months, several cases of alleged espionage for Moscow and Beijing have been made public in Germany. The trial of three German-Russians suspected of passing information to Russia and planning acts of sabotage targeting aid to Kyiv is also underway in Munich. Both defendants in the Dresden trial have been in detention since they were arrested last year. The trial could be particularly embarrassing for the AfD if it leads to the information Guo collected on the anti-immigration party becoming public. According to news weekly Der Spiegel, investigators have seized records that Guo kept of conversations with Krah and other AfD politicians in which they discussed the private life of party co-leader Alice Weidel and alleged power struggles with her colleague Tino Chrupalla. Krah denied to the magazine ever having discussed such matters with Guo. Krah was the AfD's top candidate in last year's European elections, but was excluded from its delegation after comments in which he minimised the crimes of the Nazis' notorious SS. However, he was welcomed back into the AfD fold for this year's German general election and now sits as one of the party's MPs in the Bundestag. The trial is expected to last until the end of September and Krah himself has been called to appear as a witness. Krah is also being investigated by prosecutors in Dresden on suspicion of money laundering and corruption during his time as a member of the European Parliament. According to Der Spiegel, between 2019 and 2023 he received more than 50,000 euros ($57,900) in payments from firms linked to Guo. Krah denies all wrongdoing and says the accusations against him are "politically motivated". Jian G. allegedly worked for Chinese intelligence from 2002, including while he was an aide to the Alternative for Germany (AfD) MEP Krah between 2019 and 2024 AFP AFD politician Maximilian Krah has been called to appear as a witness AFP Defendant Yaqi X., seen from the back, at the start of the espionage trial in Dresden, eastern Germany AFP
Local Germany
8 hours ago
- Local Germany
Alternative for Germany politician's ex-aide on trial for spying for China
The German national, partially identified as Jian G., allegedly worked for Chinese intelligence from 2002, including while he was an aide to the Alternative for Germany (AfD) MEP Krah between 2019 and 2024. Jian G. is accused by prosecutors in Dresden of using that position to pass on information about debates and decisions at the European Parliament, as well as some documents deemed highly sensitive. He is also suspected of being the handler for a second alleged operative, Chinese national Yaqi X., who is accused of spying on elements of the German arms industry. Jian G. is also suspected of gathering intelligence on leading AfD politicians and spying on Chinese dissidents in Germany. This included posing as an opponent of the Chinese government on social media in order to gain contacts in the opposition scene. The second defendant, Yaqi X., worked at a company which provided Leipzig airport with logistics services and is accused of helping Jian G. access information on flights and passengers. The information she passed on focused on flights transporting defence equipment and "people with links to a German arms company". According to German media reports, she particularly targeted arms giant Rheinmetall, which is involved in making Leopard tanks and which uses Leipzig airport for cargo flights. AfD 'power struggle' Both defendants have been in detention since they were arrested last year . The trial could be particularly embarrassing for the AfD if it leads to the information Jian G. collected on the party becoming public. Advertisement According to news weekly Der Spiegel , investigators have seized records that Jian G. kept of conversations with Krah and other AfD politicians in which they discussed the private life of party co-leader Alice Weidel and alleged power struggles with her colleague Tino Chrupalla. Krah denied to the magazine ever having discussed such matters with Jian G. Krah was the AfD's top candidate in last year's European elections, but was excluded from its delegation after comments in which he minimised the crimes of the Nazis' notorious SS. However, he was welcomed back into the AfD fold for this year's German general election and now sits as one of the party's MPs in the Bundestag. READ ALSO: Scandal-hit AfD politician makes comeback in German Bundestag The trial is expected to last until the end of September and Krah himself has been called to appear as a witness. Krah is also being investigated by prosecutors in Dresden on suspicion of money laundering and corruption during his time as a member of the European Parliament. According to Der Spiegel , between 2019 and 2023 he received more than 50,000 euros in payments from firms linked to Jian G. Krah denies all wrongdoing and says the accusations against him are "politically motivated".
Int'l Business Times
15 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
Five Years After Beirut Port Blast, Lebanese Demand Justice
The loved ones of those killed in a catastrophic explosion at Beirut's port five years ago gathered to demand justice on the anniversary of the blast Monday, as Lebanon's president vowed to hold those responsible to account. The August 4, 2020 disaster was one of the world's largest non-nuclear explosions, and devastated swathes of the Lebanese capital, killing more than 220 people and injuring over 6,500. Authorities have said the blast was triggered by a fire in a warehouse where tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertiliser had been stored haphazardly for years after arriving by ship, despite repeated warnings to senior officials. Hundreds gathered in Beirut on Monday afternoon to mark the anniversary, some brandishing signs reading "No compromises on justice" and "The crime of August 4 was not an accident". Georgette Khoury, 68, was there to honour the memory of three of her loved ones who perished in the blast. "Five years have passed, but it still feels like the explosion just happened. It's a gaping wound in the heart of every Lebanese person," she said, attending the commemoration for the first time. "We demand justice, and if it is not delivered here, it will be served above." A few steps away, Youssef Romanos, 44, raised a photo of his neighbour, a nun killed in the explosion. "We are waiting for justice to take its course," he said. "It will not bring back our martyrs but it will be a relief." Judge Tarek Bitar resumed his investigation into the blast this year as Lebanon's balance of power shifted following a war between Israel and Hezbollah that weakened the Iran-backed militant group, which had spearheaded a campaign for Bitar's resignation. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Monday that the state was "committed to uncovering the whole truth, no matter the obstacles or how high the positions" involved. "The law applies to all, without exception," he added. "The blood of your loved ones will not be in vain," the president told victims' families, adding: "Justice is coming, accountability is coming." After resuming work following a more than two-year impasse, Bitar has finished questioning defendants and suspects, a judicial official told AFP on condition of anonymity. Those questioned include former prime minister Hassan Diab, as well as military and security officials, while several former ministers did not appear for questioning, the official said. Bitar is waiting for some procedures to be completed, including receiving responses from several Arab and European countries following a request for "information on specific incidents", the official added, without elaborating. The judge will then finalise the investigation and refer the file to the public prosecution for its opinion before he issues an indictment, the official said. President Aoun said "we are working with all available means to ensure the investigations are completed with transparency and integrity". Officials named in the investigation had filed a flurry of lawsuits seeking to prevent it from going forward. Nobody is currently in custody in relation to the case. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said in a joint statement on Monday that "despite the resumption of the investigation, the road to justice remains littered with political and legal challenges". They urged authorities to ensure a comprehensive, unobstructed investigation that establishes "the facts and circumstances surrounding the explosion, encompassing the full chain of responsibility", whether domestic or international. Mariana Fodoulian from the association of victims' families said that "for five years, officials have been trying to evade accountability, always thinking they are above the law". "We're not asking for anything more than the truth," she told AFP. "We won't stop until we get comprehensive justice." On Sunday, Culture Minister Ghassan Salame said the port's gutted and partially collapsed wheat silos would be included on a list of historic buildings. Victims' families have long demanded their preservation as a memorial of the catastrophe. "The silos are the only witness to what happened on August 4," said Fodoulian.
