UN trucks delivering food to Gaza were stopped and looted overnight, Gaza residents and merchants said on Wednesday, hours after desperate Palestinians overran a distribution site run by a U.S.-backed group trying to start delivering aid.
The incidents underscore the problems getting supplies to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians facing worsening hunger and starvation after a weeks-long Israeli blockade, as Israel continues intensive military operations in Gaza.
On Tuesday, Israeli troops fired warning shots as crowds rushed to a distribution point run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S.-backed group that began supplying aid under a new system which Israel hopes will prevent aid reaching Hamas.
The Foundation said it continued its operations on Wednesday without incident and had opened a second distribution site.
In a statement, the Foundation also disputed that a distribution site had been overrun on Tuesday, saying its team had relaxed security protocols briefly "to safeguard against crowd reactions to finally receiving food", and that no shots had been fired at crowds or beneficiaries injured.
The United Nations and other international aid groups have refused to take part in the new distribution scheme, saying it violates the principle that aid should be distributed neutrally, based only on need.
As the new system began, the Israeli military also allowed 95 trucks belonging to the UN and other aid groups into the enclave, but three Gaza residents and three merchants said a number of trucks were targeted by looters.
One Palestinian transport operator said at least 20 trucks belonging to the UN World Food Programme were attacked shortly before midnight.
"Some trucks made it through, then it seems that people became aware of that," one witness told Reuters via a chat app, declining to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.
"They woke up, some placed barriers on the road, intercepted and stole the goods."
Israeli forces, which resumed their operation in Gaza in March following a brief truce, continued strikes on Wednesday, killing at least 30 people including eight members of the family of a local journalist, Palestinian health officials said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Israel's killing of Hamas Gaza chief Mohammad Sinwar marked a turn towards the "complete defeat of Hamas", adding that Israel was "taking control of food distribution" in Gaza.
Screening
Israel imposed the blockade on aid supplies in March, accusing Hamas of seizing supplies, a charge Hamas denies. U.N. officials say they have seen no evidence that the militant group has been looting trucks since Israel eased the blockade this month.
However, Hamas has told people not to go to the four distribution points in southern Gaza set up for the new system. It denied blocking access to the sites.
To qualify for aid under the new system, people seeking food are supposed to undergo screening to ensure they are not linked to Hamas, though witnesses on Tuesday said that no effective identification process seemed to be in place.
"What we saw yesterday was a very clear example of the dangers of distributing food," said Ajith Sunghay, Head of the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
"We are exposing people to death and injury," he told reporters in Geneva, adding that 47 people had been wounded by gunfire as the chaos unfolded.
Footage shared on social media showed fences broken down by crowds as private security contractors fell back.
"I am a big man, but I couldn't hold back my tears when I saw the images of women, men, and children racing for some food," said Rabah Rezik, 65, a father of seven from Gaza City.
Growing pressure
The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, called it "sad and disgusting" that the United Nations and other groups were not taking part.
"There were lines of people that got food which was not stolen by Hamas. The manner in which it was distributed is effective so far," he told Reuters.
Israel has faced increasing pressure over the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza. France, Britain and Germany have said they may take action if the military campaign is not halted. On Wednesday, Italy said the offensive had become unacceptable.
Israel launched its campaign in retaliation for the Hamas-led attack on communities in southern Israel on October 7, 2023 that killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 hostages abducted into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Its assault has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, Gaza officials say, and turned much of the crowded coastal enclave into a wasteland.
