Food prices are soaring in the Gaza Strip after armed men attacked and robbed nearly 100 U.N. aid trucks that crossed over from Israel.
Of the 109 trucks that entered central Gaza on Saturday, 97 were “violently looted” and “forced at gunpoint to unload aid,” according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
“Due to critical shortages of flour, all eight U.N.-supported bakeries in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis have been operating at diminished capacity for weeks. Many have been forced to shut down entirely,” the agency added. “Without immediate intervention, severe food shortages are set to worsen, further endangering the lives of over 2 million people who depend on humanitarian aid to survive.”
A woman in the city of Deir al-Balah told The Associated Press that the price of flour has now climbed to more than $100 a bag, if it can even be found.
Palestinians line up for food in Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (AP/Abdel Kareem Hana)
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the convoy of 109 trucks was instructed by the Israeli military to take an “alternative, unfamiliar route” after the aid was brought through the Kerem Shalom crossing and that the trucks were robbed near the crossing itself.
Israel is accusing criminal gangs and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas of stealing the aid.
However, Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas official based abroad, alleged the looters were young Bedouins who operate east of Rafah near Israeli military positions.
Al-Aqsa TV, which is operated by the militants, claimed that Hamas-run security forces in Gaza had launched an operation against looters, killing 20 of them.
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Palestinians are seen storming trucks loaded with humanitarian aid brought in through a U.S.-built pier in the central Gaza Strip on May 18, 2024. (AP/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Nora Muhanna, a Gaza resident who has been displaced from Gaza City, told the AP, “From the beginning, there are no goods, and even if they are available, there is no money.”
UNRWA also said “The Israeli authorities continue 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.
Aid trucks from UNRWA deliver aid near Gaza City on June 19, 2024. (Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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“Such responsibilities continue when trucks enter the Gaza Strip, until people are reached with essential assistance,” it wrote in a statement on X.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.