Armed terrorists sit on top of aid trucks in the Gaza Strip. (Twitter Screenshot)
A whopping 113 trucks were looted of their humanitarian supplies in the Gaza Strip in two takeovers.
By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
Hamas operatives stole tons of humanitarian aid being brought into the Gaza Strip over the weekend, looting almost 100 trucks on Saturday and another 15 on Sunday.
United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the Saturday raid was the worst case of looting in Gaza “in terms of volume” since the Israel-Hamas war began 13 months ago.
Louise Wateridge, the Senior Emergency Officer of the UN’s aid agency exclusive to Palestinians, UNRWA, said that Israel had told the joint UNRWA-World Food Program convoy to enter southern Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing “at short notice and via an unfamiliar route,” Reuters reported.
Drivers of 98 trucks out of the 109 in the convoy were soon forced at gunpoint to take down their cargo, Wateridge said, adding that some of them were injured in the process.
Dujarric added that the hijackers had caused “severe damage to the trucks” while stealing the supplies
Eyewitnesses said that the convoy had been stopped by masked men throwing grenades.
Neither Wateridge nor Dujarric would identify the perpetrators as Hamas personnel when commenting on the incident, although Israel has provided proof that Hamas has warehouses so full of stolen aid that they don’t know where to put it all.
In a press conference Monday, UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini actually turned the blame away from Hamas.
“Until four or five months ago, we still had local capacity, people who were escorting the convoy,” he said. “This has completely gone, which means we are in an environment where local gangs, local families, are struggling among each other to take control of any business or any activities taking place in the south. It has become an impossible environment to operate in.”
In a post on X, the international organization also accused Israel of bearing ultimate responsibility, stating that the Jewish state is continuing to “disregard their legal obligations under international law to ensure the population’s basic needs are met and to facilitate the safe delivery of aid.”
In Sunday’s incident, about 15 trucks were looted in the Gaza Strip by armed men. The IDF fired at others who tried to loot more trucks and thwarted their attempt, a Ynet report stated Monday.
The report also said that government officials have instructed the security establishment to intensify operations against looters.
The IDF knows which points and intersections are most popular for the hijackings, the report said, and is increasing its forces at those critical points in order to ensure that the aid will reaches its destination intact.
Hamas, meanwhile, claimed that it had “executed” 20 thieves who were allegedly members of a crime ring as “part of an integrated plan to combat the crime of robbing aid trucks.”
Many in Israel think the IDF should take over the entire aid distribution process so as to weaken Hamas’ hold on the Gazan population that is currently dependent on the terrorist group for its basic needs.
This would also cut off a huge money-maker for the terrorists, as Hamas has made hundreds of millions of dollars selling the aid they steal.
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