A convoy of 109 UN aid lorries carrying food was violently looted in Gaza on Monday, with 97 lorries lost and their drivers forced to unload aid at gunpoint after passing through the Kerem Shalom crossing.
Eyewitnesses reported that masked men threw grenades at the convoy during the attack, demobilizing them.
The convoy was directed by Israeli authorities to take this unfamiliar route.
UNRWA commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini said local escort capabilities for convoys have vanished, leading to increased competition among gangs for control of resources. Desperate individuals even tried to storm a UNRWA facility in Khan Younis, believing aid had been delivered there, but found nothing.
Mr Lazzarini said there is a “total breakdown of civil order” in Gaza, making it impossible for humanitarian operations to continue. He warned of worsening food shortages for the two million people relying on aid.
UNRWA accused Israeli authorities of failing to meet their legal obligations to ensure aid delivery.
However, the Israeli military debunks the charge, saying they were always working to facilitate aid transfers and insisting that aid deliveries were unrestricted.
Gaza’s Hamas-run interior ministry, however, has claimed they have killed over 20 gang members who were involved in the theft.
Meanwhile, non-governmental organizations in Gaza say that the looting results from Israel’s targeting of police forces in Gaza and the dire humanitarian situation.
A UN assessment indicated that famine is imminent in some parts of northern Gaza and urged the world to provide urgent food supplies.
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