One of the first aid shipments arriving in the Gaza Strip via a US-built dock was looted, officials said Monday, underscoring the ongoing challenge of safely delivering humanitarian aid in a territory facing severe food shortages and other needs.
Saturday’s delivery failure came two days after the floating jetty, built by the US military at an estimated cost of more than $300 million, was connected to the Mediterranean shore in central Gaza. The US State Department did not respond to requests for comment.
Crowds of Palestinians intercepted a convoy of trucks that had loaded goods from the dock, hastily grabbing them and fleeing with their contents, according to Abeer Etefa, the World Food Program said. Two senior Western officials and Majdi Fathi, a Gazan photojournalist, confirmed Ms. Etefa’s account. The officials requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Aid groups and the United Nations blame Gaza’s hunger crisis on Israel’s restrictions on aid entering the enclave and also on black traders who have seized supplies to sell them at inflated prices. Israeli officials insisted that enough supplies had entered the territory and accused Hamas of stealing and hoarding the aid.
For months, as famine threatens Gaza, the Palestinians have forcibly withdrawn aid from trucks. U.N. officials say the looting reflects the desperation of ordinary people trying to feed themselves and their families, and they say the phenomenon has diminished thanks to the steady flow of large amounts of aid into the country. ‘enclave.
On Saturday, 11 of 16 trucks that left the dock with aid were looted as they headed to a World Food Program warehouse, Ms. Etefa said, adding that the food aid agency had suspended deliveries. deliveries from the dock Sunday and Monday.
Footage taken by Mr. Fathi showed dozens of men chaotically grabbing and throwing boxes of supplies from the bed of a truck near the Gaza coast. In an interview, Mr. Fathi, 43, a freelance photographer, said thousands of people had gathered on the north-south coastal road after learning that a group of trucks had passed through the area the day before.
“They completely gutted them,” he said.
In recent days, aid has been transported from the dock to a section of Gaza controlled by Israel. There, they were unloaded from one set of trucks and loaded into another set of trucks before being transferred to population centers. It is unclear what arrangements were made to guard the trucks after they left the Israeli-controlled area.
On Friday, 10 trucks carrying aid from the dock, including high-energy biscuits, arrived at the WFP warehouse without incident, Ms. Etefa said.
She said incidents like Saturday’s would recur as long as insufficient food aid reached Gaza’s population, and that more Israeli-approved routes to deliver aid would be needed to avoid crowds.
Aid delivery through the two main southern Gaza border crossings increased sharply in April and early May, although it remained below the level humanitarian groups deemed necessary.
But since Israel invaded the eastern part of the southern city of Rafah on May 7 and closed the border crossing there, aid shipments via southern routes almost stopped, according to the main United Nations agency for Palestinian aid. The agency, known as UNRWA, said that in a 15-day period through Monday, only 69 aid trucks entered through the two crossings – the lowest rate since the first weeks of the war.
In April, U.S. officials told reporters they hoped the dock operation would initially provide enough aid for about 90 trucks a day, before increasing to 150 a day.
This war-torn territory, home to around 2.2 million civilians, is more dependent than ever on humanitarian aid. The devastation after seven months of war and strict Israeli inspections and restrictions on crossing points have limited what can enter Gaza.
Eric Schmitt contributed to the reporting of this article.
