DaysofPal- The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) allow gangs and thieves in the Gaza Strip to rob aid trucks and demand extortion money from them as they enter the area, according to a joint report released Friday by 29 non-governmental organizations.
According to the report, whenever Gaza police officers try to stop these gangs and thieves from taking over the aid trucks, they are targeted by the IOF.
The NGOs said that “merely counting the number of trucks” was no longer an adequate measure of gauging the amount of aid reaching the people in the Gaza Strip.
“Looting is an ongoing issue,” they said, calling the theft of goods “a consequence of Israel’s targeting of the remaining police forces in Gaza” as well as of scarcity of essential goods, lack of routes and the closure of most crossing points which had resulted in “desperation of the population amid those dire conditions”.
The NGOs accused Israel’s military of “failing to prevent aid trucks from being looted and armed gangs from extorting aid organizations for protection money”.
In “some cases”, the report said, “the remaining members of local police forces tried to take action against the looters, but were attacked by Israeli troops”.
Incidents had taken place “close by or in full view of Israeli forces without them intervening, even when truck drivers asked for assistance”, it said.
Meanwhile, Israeli air strikes had killed at least 20 aid workers from mostly Palestinian organizations between October 10 and November 13, the report said.
“Staff were killed in their homes, in displacement camps and while delivering life-saving aid,” it said.
They further noted that ‘many incidents occur near or within sight of Israeli forces, who refuse to intervene even when truck drivers request assistance.
“Many incidents occur near or within sight of Israeli forces, without them intervening even when truck drivers request assistance,” the report added.
The organizations denounced in the report the reduction in humanitarian aid allowed into the Gaza Strip by IOF to “a historically low level.”
They noted that an average of 37 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered the Palestinian territories daily in October, and 69 daily in the first week of November, compared to 500 before October 7, 2023, when the war broke out.
The 29 organizations also counted seven attacks on humanitarian workers, most of which were carried out by the Israeli army between October 10 and November 7, during which 11 humanitarian workers and three children were killed.
This represents new evidence supporting what Haaretz reported last Sunday, citing sources within international relief organizations operating in Gaza.
According to the report, armed gangs in the Rafah area are systematically obstructing a significant number of aid trucks entering the Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing, often by deliberately diverting their routes.
The report further noted that this occurs while Israeli forces ‘turn a blind eye.’
Additionally, some relief organizations refuse to pay the extortion fees, resulting in ‘many cases where the equipment remains in warehouses controlled by the Israeli forces.
The humanitarian organizations report that local police forces ‘attempted on several occasions to act against the thieves but were attacked by the Israeli army, which views them as part of Hamas.’
They further state that ‘solving this issue in a manner that enables aid to reach the population requires the deployment of a police force in the Strip, whether Palestinian or international,’ a measure that IOF oppose.
The report highlighted that the issue of armed gangs has intensified since the Israeli army assumed control of the Rafah crossing, which had previously served as the primary entry point for goods into the Strip.
With the closure of the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the majority of goods now enter through the Kerem Shalom crossing, where the surrounding area is controlled by these militant groups.
Under the observation of occupation forces
The report states that ‘cases of theft have doubled in recent weeks, leading to the road sector being classified as a “high risk area” on UN maps, primarily due to the collapse of civil order.’
The report further detailed that ‘trucks entering the Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing pass through an area under Israeli army control at the Philadelphi Route before continuing north toward Rafah, where they are attacked by militants.
The report quoted officials familiar with the aid transport process, who stated that ‘militants stop the trucks using temporary barriers or shoot at their tires, then demand a ‘passage fee’ of 15,000 shekels.’ They added that ‘drivers who refuse this demand risk having their trucks hijacked, seized, and their contents stolen.’
Haaretz cited sources working in the Gaza Strip, who confirmed that ‘these armed attacks occur under the watch of Israeli army forces, often just hundreds of meters away from them.
“The report stated that some of the relief organizations whose trucks were attacked reached out to the Israeli army for assistance, but the army refused to intervene. The organizations also confirmed that the army is preventing them from using alternative, safer routes.
The report quoted a senior official from an international organization operating in the Gaza Strip, who said: ‘I saw an Israeli tank with a Palestinian armed with a Kalashnikov rifle standing just a hundred meters away.’
According to the official, ‘the gunmen beat the drivers and confiscate all the food if they are not paid.
To avoid this, some relief organizations agree to pay the extortion fees. The report also noted that on October 13, the United States once again urged Israeli authorities to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, threatening to restrict American military aid if the situation does not improve.
The report added that ‘not only has Israel failed to meet American standards,’ but its military ‘has simultaneously taken actions that have significantly worsened the situation on the ground,’ particularly in northern Gaza.
Eight NGOs, including Save the Children, CARE, and Mercy Corps, recently stated that the situation is ‘more catastrophic than it was a month ago.'”
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