Looting of humanitarian aid in Gaza: NGOs point out the Israeli army | Conflict in the Middle East

The Israeli army favors the looting of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip by attacking in particular the Palestinian police forces who are trying to combat it, 29 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) accused in a joint report on Friday.

Looting is a recurring problem, a consequence of Israel’s targeting of the remaining police forces in Gaza, the shortage of essential goods, the lack of roads and the closure of most crossing points, and the desperation of the population who results in these disastrous conditionspoint out these ONGwhich include Médecins du Monde, Oxfam and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

The Israeli army failed in addition to prevent the looting of aid trucks and armed gangs from extorting protection money from humanitarian organizationscontinue ONGciting in particular an article from the left-wing Israeli daily Haaretzpublished Monday and titled Israeli military allows Gaza gangs to loot aid trucks, extort protection fees from drivers.

In their report, the ONG also claim that, in some caseswhile Palestinian police attempted to take action against the looters, they were attacked by Israeli troops.

Many incidents take place near or under the eyes of Israeli forces, without them intervening, even when truckers ask for help.

Aid workers killed

In the same report, the 29 ONG denounce the reduction at a historically low level of humanitarian aid authorized by Israel in the Gaza Strip.

According to these, an average of 37 humanitarian trucks entered the Palestinian territory every day in October and 69 daily in the first week of November, compared to 500 before October 7, 2023, the date of the start of the war triggered by the unprecedented attack. of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas against Israel.

Between October 10 and November 13, Israeli strikes killed at least 20 aid workers […] working mainly for Palestinian organizationsdeplore the 29 ONG.

These employees were killed at home, in displacement camps or while distributing aid.

A situation even more disastrous

On October 13, the United States again asked Israeli authorities to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, or risk seeing American military aid restricted, they say.

Not only did Israel fail to meet American standardsbut his army at the same time took measures which considerably worsened the situation on the groundparticularly in the north of the Gaza Strip, the report accuses.

The situation is even more disastrous than a month agorecently deplored eight ONGincluding Save the Children, Care or Mercy Corps, in another press release.

On Thursday, however, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said it was fully committed to facilitating the continued delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza and to increase itnotably opening new routes and crossing points, such as the one at Kissoufim opened this week, to ensure essential aid reaches Gaza residents.