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‘They stole everything’ – Looting gangs terrorize Gaza aid convoys

‘I asked one of them for a sack of flour to feed my children, and he pointed a a pistol at me,’ says Gazan.

By World Israel News Staff

Armed criminal gangs are regularly ambushing trucks carrying humanitarian aid and stealing food meant for civilians, according to a New York Times report published on Monday.

Truck driver Hazem Isleem, who was part of a convoy of 100 trucks carrying aid, said that he had been attacked by looters, who forced him to drive to a nearby field.

There, he said, he was made to help the looters unload thousands of pounds of flour from his truck and assist in ransacking the other vehicles in the convoy.

“It was terrifying,” Isleem said of his ordeal, telling the New York Times that he was held at gunpoint for 13 hours while the looters stole the entirety of the aid. “But the worst part was we weren’t able to deliver the food to the people.”

Awad Abid, a Gazan who said he had attempted to buy flour from looters, said he was threatened by the gang.

“I asked one of them for a sack of flour to feed my children, and he pointed a a pistol at me,” Abid told the Times.

He added that he had seen gunmen “guarding warehouses containing stolen cartons of UN-marked aid,” according to the report.

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Numerous Gazan sources named Nasser Abu Shabab, 35, as the mastermind behind the most prolific armed looting gang.

Speaking to the Times, Abu Shabab admitted that he sent armed men to raid aid convoys but claimed he was obtaining the goods to help feed his family and neighbors.

“We are taking trucks so we can eat, not so we can sell,” Abu Shabab said. “Every hungry person is taking aid.”

Notably, Abu Shabab said that Hamas is stealing the majority of the humanitarian aid, rather than armed criminal gangs.

Despite extensive evidence that Hamas is indeed hoarding humanitarian aid and reselling it for exorbitant prices, the terror group has denied that it holds goods meant for distribution to civilians.