15 hours ago
Palestinian families secure trucks, humanitarian warehouses, enabling first aid distribution to households in months
Palestinians in northern Gaza received notifications to collect household aid from United Nations warehouses for the first time in months on Thursday, after dozens of trucks carrying vital supplies entered the strip under the protection of clans and families yesterday.
The trucks safely reached warehouses operated by the World Food Program (WFP) and other international organizations in Gaza City.
The distribution of aid has become a site of tension between Israel and humanitarian organizations in recent months as Israel has imposed a total blockade on Gaza and starvation has become pervasive.
Israel initially blocked the most effective aid distribution mechanism — the UN distributing aid via households — sowing chaos at bakeries that were subject to theft and overcrowding. Israel then abetted the theft of trucks leaking the delivery route to thieves and targeting security forces tasked with securing supplies.
Then, with humanitarian aid all but choked off, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation — a shady joint venture with ties to American and Israeli intelligence and military figures — had complete sway over distribution. Since the foundation began operations in May, at least 549 people have been killed while attempting to get food in what Palestinians have described as 'aid traps.'
The entrance of trucks on Wednesday through the Zikim border crossing came after consultations among northern Gaza's clans and families to ensure the safe passage of the trucks, Hosny al-Mughanny, the head of the Higher Commission for Tribal Affairs, told Mada Masr. Residents were deployed around the Khaldi and Tawam neighborhoods — areas previously targeted by looters.
'We issued instructions to all clans and families in northern Gaza to stand united against the gangs and looters, to spread out in groups in areas where trucks have previously been obstructed and respond firmly to anyone who attempts to come near,' he said.
According to Mughanny, a prior meeting had taken place between the commission in northern Gaza and several relief organizations, including the WFP, resulting in an agreement to collaborate to ensure the safe arrival and distribution of aid to storage facilities.
Yazan Ahmed and several young men in his family joined the groups protecting Wednesday's convoy. Some climbed onto the trucks, while others formed human chains in locations along the convoy routes.
'Some looters tried to approach the convoy routes, but we immediately dealt with them and forced them to go back to where they came from,' Ahmed told Mada Masr. 'People are literally dying of hunger because of aid thieves. Prices keep rising because they steal the aid and then resell it at exorbitant prices.'
The Sahm unit, affiliated with Hamas's security forces and tasked with protecting aid convoys, issued a warning on Wednesday urging residents to stay clear of the trucks. The unit said any interference would be met with force, either by its members or by the clans securing the aid.
Following the successful delivery, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to provide a plan within 48 hours to prevent the 'takeover' of aid by Hamas. The order came after Israel halted aid deliveries to Gaza and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to quit the government if immediate action was not taken to stop aid from reaching the group, an unnamed Israeli official told Channel 12.
Nahed Shehaiber, the head of the Private Transport Association in Gaza, told Mada Masr that the Israeli military has routinely obstructed the delivery of aid to warehouses by forcing trucks to stop in certain areas, facilitating their looting by armed gangs.
While none of the 45 trucks that entered northern Gaza on Wednesday was looted, he said, about 70 trucks let in through the south were intercepted and stripped of their contents by armed gangs in southern Khan Younis. The trucks were intended for WFP warehouses in central Gaza.
Shehaiber called for the model implemented in the north to be extended to the south to ensure aid reaches those in need throughout the strip.
On Thursday, some residents began receiving messages from international organizations notifying them to collect aid. Adham Hassan said he was contacted by Anera, an international NGO, and instructed to visit their Sheikh Radwan office in northern Gaza City to pick up a bag of flour — the first time he has received such a message in over three months.
