Amid food shortages, people in Gaza ambush aid convoys
Amid widespread food shortages and a breakdown of civil order, groups of desperate civilians in Gaza regularly attempt to ambush aid convoys, according to two Western officials who were recently in the enclave and footage of one such ambush reviewed by The New York Times.
In the footage, several dozen young men, some carrying clubs, attempt to block the passage of a convoy of trucks as they drive along a major highway in southern Gaza after entering the area from Egypt. The trucks are briefly pushed off the road as the drivers swerve to avoid hitting the men. Some attackers throw stones at the windshields of the trucks, apparently in an attempt to stop them.
The footage, which has a time stamp indicating it was taken in recent days, was reviewed by a reporter from The Times.
Such attacks have become common since Israel's invasion last year, as desperate civilians face famine in parts of the enclave, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid complicating their work in Gaza. In a recent attack, the attackers threw an ax at the driver's cabin in an attempt to break into it, while in another attack the attackers threw a block of cement, one of the officials said.
Israel blames much of the theft on Hamas, which it accuses of siphoning supplies for its own forces.
But Western officials said the attacks appeared to be largely organized by groups of Gazans unaffiliated with Hamas, or were spontaneous acts by desperate civilians. Hamas officials have little presence on the ground in any part of Gaza, the officials said, and international aid agencies are no longer coordinating their movements with the group that controlled the entire territory until October.
The ambushes on aid convoys are partly the result of law enforcement failures, officials said. Gaza police officers are now refusing to protect the convoys because they fear they will be targeted by Israel because of their ties to the Hamas-led government, the officials said. That makes the convoys more vulnerable, she added.
Foreign diplomats say privately that enough food is reaching the Gaza border through Egypt to prevent famine, but the problem is distributing it to areas outside Rafah, the southern city that forms the border with Egypt.
In northern Gaza, aid groups say another major obstacle is the difficulty of coordinating safe passage with the Israeli army.
Unlike southern Gaza, the north is largely under full Israeli control, and aid groups say Israel regularly blocks access to Gaza City and surrounding districts.
Israel has accused aid groups of not coordinating their convoys closely enough with the Israeli government, saying not all access requests can be granted due to the ongoing fighting.
In one case in early February, the United Nations accused the Israeli navy of shelling an aid convoy traveling along the Gaza coastal highway toward Gaza City. The Israeli military said it is investigating the claim.