Aid Deliveries Resume but Fall Far Short
Looting by Armed Groups Adds to the Crisis
Although the delivery of humanitarian aid such as food has partially resumed in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, the amount remains woefully insufficient, leading to growing chaos.
On the 21st (local time), residents lined up to receive free food in Rafah, Gaza Strip. Photo by Yonhap News
According to reports by the BBC and CNN on the 23rd (local time), riots and looting have broken out in the Gaza Strip as residents scramble to secure scarce food supplies.
The Israeli military announced that it partially lifted the blockade of the Gaza Strip this week and allowed aid to enter, with approximately 130 trucks carrying relief supplies entering Gaza over the course of three days.
However, considering that residents of the Gaza Strip are estimated to require 500 to 600 truckloads of aid per day, the current supply remains severely inadequate. Unprecedented chaos erupted around a bakery in central Gaza, where crowds gathered after bread was baked for the first time in over two months using flour that had just arrived the previous day. Surrounded by countless hands reaching through the windows, the bread disappeared in an instant. Many of those who had gathered were forced to return home empty-handed. Out of safety concerns, most local bakeries have currently suspended operations.
The situation has become even more dire due to the looting of aid supplies during transport. On the 22nd, a convoy of 20 World Food Programme (WFP) trucks carrying flour from the Kerem Shalom border crossing to a warehouse in Deir al-Balah was attacked by five armed men. The assailants fired at the truck tires and attempted to seize the cargo, resulting in a gunfight with Hamas fighters escorting the trucks.
Immediately after the shootout, an Israeli military drone appeared and attacked the Hamas fighters, with at least six people reportedly killed in the incident. Hamas condemned the attack, stating that the Israeli side deliberately targeted their fighters even though it was clear they were protecting a convoy of humanitarian aid trucks, calling it "a horrific massacre." However, according to CNN and BBC, the Israeli military claimed that it had identified and targeted "armed robbers, including Hamas terrorists," near the aid trucks.
International relief organizations have repeatedly warned that desperately needed food and medicine are still not being adequately supplied to Gaza residents. Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), stated on X (formerly Twitter) that "Gaza residents have been starving for more than 11 weeks and have not received even basic necessities such as water and medicine," adding that the looting was "not surprising."
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that although the delivery of flour, powdered milk, and medicine has resumed and some bakeries in southern Gaza have reopened, "this is only a teaspoon of aid in a situation that requires a flood."
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