Recent attack on trucks carrying flour has deprived starving civilians of food as territory teeters on edge of famine
The attack on 17 November was the most serious after months of escalating violence. The UN estimates a third of its aid entering Gaza is looted.The attack on 17 November was the most serious after months of escalating violence. The UN estimates a third of its aid entering Gaza is looted.
“It’s hand to mouth. There’s absolutely nothing in reserve. If we run out, the bakeries shut and a million and a half people go hungry,” he said.Displaced Palestinians queue for food in Deir al-Balah. The looted convoy was carrying enough flour to bake bread for two-thirds of the population for a week.UN agencies say law and order has deteriorated across Gaza since Israel began targeting police officers, who guarded aid convoys, this year.
Another UN aid official in Gaza said he had seen armed looters “within spitting distance of an Israeli tank”. Aid officials said the attack marked a “huge step change” in scale and ambition. Gangs have made huge sums in recent months through stealing and stockpiling aid. The price of basics in Gaza has soared as deliveries have declined sharply. Every truck looted on 17 November carried more than 400 desperately needed bags of wheat flour, each worth $100 on markets in Gaza.
This year Hamas set up “popular resistance committees” made up of Hamas fighters, allied armed groups and local clans to enforce some kind of order in swaths of Gaza that are in effect ungoverned.in an operation to reclaim the looted supplies and said the operation was the start of a broader campaign to tackle the problem.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Israeli airstrikes kill dozens of people in Gaza and Lebanon ahead of US aid deadlineThis week, the US is set to decide whether Israel has made progress toward improving the humanitarian situation in Gaza and how Washington will respond.
Read more »
'Without food, without water': Israeli air strikes kill 20 in Gaza as officials call for aidA series of aerial assaults on northern Gaza has left 20 people dead, adding to yesterday's 93 casualties.
Read more »
Israel failing to provide enough aid to war-torn Gaza, aid agencies sayThe US will continue to provide military assistance to the Netanyahu government, despite aid agencies saying it has fallen short of providing enough aid to the wartorn region.
Read more »
Conflict in Gaza an ‘Israeli terrorism creation factory’, warns Australian on UN inquiryFormer human rights commissioner Chris Sidoti says ‘there is no end in sight’ as ongoing bombardment is sowing seeds for generations of hostilities
Read more »
UN special committee likens Israeli policy in Gaza to genocideReport also refers to Israel ‘using starvation as a weapon of war’ and running ‘apartheid system’ in West Bank
Read more »
Israeli strikes kill Hezbollah spokesman in Beirut, dozens in GazaMohammed Afif had been especially visible after all-out war erupted between Israel and Hezbollah in September.
Read more »