U.N. food trucks blocked, offloaded by hungry Palestinians in Gaza as Hamas considers U.S.-led ceasefire agreement

CBS News

2 days ago

Dozens of U.N. food trucks were blocked and offloaded by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as desperation mounts following Israel's monthslong blockade, while talks of a ceasefire inch forward.
The U.N. Food Program said Saturday that 77 trucks carrying aid, mostly flour, were stopped by hungry people who took the food before the trucks were able to reach their destination.
"After nearly 80 days of total blockade, communities are starving – and they are no longer willing to watch food pass them by," the WFP said in a statement. "This delivery is a start, but it's not nearly enough."
Displaced Palestinians, including women and children living in tents, receive food distributed by aid organizations in al Mawasi district of Khan Yunis, Gaza on May 30, 2025.
Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images
A nearly three-month Israeli blockade on Gaza has pushed the population of nearly 2.3 million people to the brink of famine. While the pressure slightly eased in recent days as Israel allowed some aid to enter, organizations say there still isn't nearly enough food getting in.
The United Nations has called Gaza the "hungriest place on Earth."
"To restore home, ease fear, and prevent further chaos, we must flood communities with food – now," the WFP said. "Only consistent, large-scale aid can rebuild trust."
A witness in the southern city of Khan Younis told The Associated Press the U.N. convoy was stopped at a makeshift roadblock and offloaded by desperate civilians in their thousands. Most people carried bags of flour on their backs or heads. He said at one point a forklift was used to offload pallets from the stranded trucks. The witness spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of reprisal.
People carry their sacks of flour distributed by charities in Khan Yunis, Gaza, where there is a food crisis due to Israeli attacks on May 31, 2025.
Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images
Hamas on Friday said it was reviewing a U.S.-led proposal for a temporary ceasefire that Israel has already accepted. President Trump said that negotiators were nearing a deal.
During the proposed 60-day ceasefire, a draft of the deal obtained by CBS News indicated that Hamas would release 10 living hostages and the remains of 18 dead hostages in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including some serving life sentences, and much-needed food aid and other assistance.
The United Nations said earlier this month that Israeli authorities have forced them to use unsecured routes within areas controlled by the Israeli military in the eastern areas of Rafah and Khan Younis, where armed gangs are active and trucks were stopped.
Israel's military didn't immediately respond for comment.
An internal document shared with aid groups about security incidents, seen by the Associated Press, said there were four incidents of facilities being looted in three days at the end of May, not including the convoy on Saturday.
The situation in Gaza highlights the growing desperation and urgent need for humanitarian assistance in the besieged enclave.
Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images
The U.N. says it's been unable to get enough aid in because of fighting. On Friday, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said it only picked up five truckloads of cargo from the Palestinian side of the Kareem Shalom crossing, and the other 60 trucks had to return due to intense hostilities in the area.
An Israeli official said his country has offered the U.N. logistical and operational support but "the U.N. is not doing their job." Instead, a new U.S- and Israeli-backed foundation started operations in Gaza this week, distributing food at several sites in a chaotic rollout. Israel says the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation will replace the massive aid operation that the U.N. and others have carried out throughout the war.
It says the new mechanism is necessary, accusing Hamas of siphoning off large amounts of aid. The U.N. denies that a significant diversion takes place.
Cindy McCain, the WFP's executive director, told "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" last Sunday that there is no evidence to support Israel's claims that Hamas is responsible for the looting of their aid trucks.
"These people are desperate, and they see a World Food Programme truck coming in, and they run for it," she said. "This doesn't have anything to do with Hamas or any kind of organized crime, or anything. It has simply to do with the fact these people are starving to death."
Smoke and dust rising over the destroyed and heavily damaged residential areas following the Israeli attacks in the northern Gaza Strip are seen from the Gaza-Israel border region on May 31, 2025.
Tsafrir Abayov/Anadolu via Getty Images
Meanwhile, Israel is continuing its military campaign across Gaza.
The Gaza Health Ministry said that at least 60 people were killed by Israeli strikes in the last 24 hours. It said three people were shot by Israeli gunfire early Saturday morning in the southern city of Rafah. Three other people were killed, parents and a child, when their car was struck in Gaza City.
The war began when Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking 250 hostages. Of those taken captive, 58 remain in Gaza, but Israel believes 35 are dead, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said there are "doubts" about the fate of several others.
Israeli strikes have killed more than 54,000 Gaza residents, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tally.