Israel has repeatedly attributed the famine in Gaza to Hamas, accusing the group of looting humanitarian aid trucks.
In many cases, Israel has circulated videos showing gangs looting humanitarian aid, claiming that these gangs are affiliated with Hamas. However, Misbar’s investigations have debunked these assertions by reaching out to residents in Gaza and eyewitnesses of the looting incidents.
Currently, the supply of food reaching the Gaza Strip is at an all-time low. Misbar's correspondent in Gaza reported that the famine in southern Gaza, which is supposed to be a “safe zone,” is worsening daily. People have nothing to eat. Markets contain almost no goods except a few cleaning items. If food is found, its prices are exorbitant.
During such a time when famine is reaching new levels leaving all of the residents hungry, Israel is required to permit more food into the Strip. Despite international pressure on Israel to fix its policies, Israel is still attempting to shift the blame onto Hamas.
Misbar’s investigation found that Israel is further manufacturing the famine in the Strip by orchestrating armed looting in Gaza.
Looting Gangs Operate Under Israel’s Eye
The current famine in Gaza has two main results: Israel’s restrictions on aid delivery and the armed looting operations to whatever aid reaches the Strip.
Armed men attack the aid trucks entering the Strip, threatening truck drivers to pay a protection fee or to have the contents of their truck stolen. A chaotic scene led by armed gangs left Gaza without food.
Ismail al-Thawabteh, head of the Government Media Office in Gaza, told Misbar that Israel coordinates with outlaw groups and gangs in order to facilitate the theft of this aid. These groups operate in a geographical area where police cannot reach due to the dangerous security situation imposed by the Israeli army.
“These outlaw groups move under the eyes of the occupation, which means that the occupation approves of their behavior, as they work under the eyes of the occupation army as if it is facilitating these offensive behaviors, which ultimately works to reinforce the policy of deliberate starvation,” al-Thawabteh explained.
Some of the gangs are coordinating with Israel to find out the location and types of aid trucks, in order to rob and steal them under the eyes of the Israeli air force, according to al-Thawabteh.
In an article titled, “The Israeli Army Is Allowing Gangs in Gaza to Loot Aid Trucks and Extort Protection Fees From Drivers,” the Israeli paper Haaretz said that gangs stop the trucks as soon as they turn toward Rafah after crossing the Karem Abu Salem.
They then demand a "transit fee" of $4,000. Any driver who refuses risks being abducted or having the contents of his truck stolen.
The Karem Abu Salem crossing is located in Rafah and has been under Israeli military control since the invasion of Rafah in May, which means that all the looting operations happen while the Israeli soldiers are present.
In some documented instances, aid truck drivers said that the gangs were just some meters away from the Israeli army. The Israeli soldiers saw them but did not intervene; instead, they allowed the looting of the trucks.
Maher Alassar, an aid truck driver, said to the Independent Arabia that the armed gangs opposed his way shortly after crossing the Karem Abu Salem. “I was still under the eye of the Israeli army, and the sky over the area was filled with reconnaissance planes. What was most striking was that the (Israeli) tanks were less than 100 meters away,” Alassar said.
Alassar’s truck was led to agricultural land near the border, stealing all the humanitarian aid from it, then leaving the driver. Alassar confirmed that the looting was systematic and organized under the eye of the Israeli military.
A senior official from an aid organization confirmed to Haaretz that the looting is carried out under Israel’s eye. "I saw one Israeli tank, and a Palestinian armed with a Kalashnikov [rifle] just 100 meters [around 325 feet] from it," the aid senior said. "The armed men beat the drivers and take all the food if they aren't paid [protection money]."
Some aid groups say attacked truck drivers have even sought help from the Israeli forces, but the soldiers refused to intervene. Moreover, they say, the army bars them from taking alternate roads that are considered safer.
Israel Refuses Aid Groups’ Requests to Prevent Looting
An internal United Nations memo obtained by The Washington Post highlights the chaos surrounding Gaza's famine, exacerbated by looting gangs. The memo concluded that the looting gangs “may be benefiting from a passive if not active benevolence” or “protection” from Israel.
According to the U.N. memo, one gang leader established a “military-like compound” in an area “restricted, controlled, and patrolled” by the Israeli army.
Aid groups have repeatedly requested Israel to apply better measures to safeguard convoys including appeals for safer routes, more open crossings, and permission to allow Gaza’s civilian police to protect the trucks. However, most of their requests were denied and the looting still happens within the Israeli soldiers’ view but without intervention.
Natalie Fath, a Mercy Corps spokesperson, told Misbar that removing restrictions on the use of containers and closed trucks could solve the organized looting and civil unrest in Gaza to some extent. She explained that using open flatbed trucks for aid deliveries makes them highly vulnerable to looting
However, she noted that “repeated efforts to secure approval for container and closed trucks by humanitarian agencies have been met with refusal by Israeli authorities.”
Natalie added that the recent looting is “unsurprising given humanitarian aid entering Gaza reached a historic low this past month and has been wholly insufficient for over a year.”
Most of the aid organizations working in Gaza share the assessment that looting is supported by Israel’s actions.
In a joint statement released on November 12, the Norwegian Refugee Council and the Mercy Corps along with 6 other aid organizations working in Gaza, said that Israel violates its assurances under National Security Memorandum 20 (NSM-20), which requires recipients of U.S defense to promise not to impede the delivery of aid, and Section 620i of the Foreign Assistance Act, a law that requires recipients of U.S. arms to transport U.S. humanitarian assistance or else they would be deprived of the U.S. arms.
Officials in the aid groups said that the little aid that gets through Gaza is often looted, as Israel has obliterated the Palestinian police and refuses to secure or provide secure access routes to places where the humanitarian organizations could distribute aid.
However, even after the release of this statement, Israel did not offer any protection to the aid trucks or improve its policies to meet the National Security Memorandum 20 and allowed looting to happen.
On November 16, 98 out of 109 trucks carrying U.N. food from the Karem Abu Salem crossing were looted by armed men.
According to U.N. humanitarian agencies and Gaza businessman Adham Shuhaibar, who had eight trucks in the convoy, looters shot at the trucks and detained a driver for hours. Later in a statement, the U.N. said the attack caused “injuries to transporters” and “extensive vehicle damage.”
As Israel is the occupying power in Gaza, aid groups demand intervention from it. Muhannad Hadi, U.N. humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territories, said “Gaza is basically lawless. There is no security anywhere.” Israel is “the occupying power,” he said, so “this is on them. They need to make sure that the area is protected and secured.”
Officials from aid groups noted that Hamas is not behind the looting attacks. “We have not seen any physical interference from Hamas anywhere in our programs, north or south,” an official from a major international aid organization said.
On the contrary, Hamas regards them as rivals. Al-Thawabteh noted to Misbar that the members forming the looting gangs are originally criminals who have previous cases and rulings condemning them by the judicial authorities in the Gaza Strip.
He added that many of them have surrendered themselves to government agencies, expressed their withdrawal from these behaviors, and pledged not to repeat this matter.
However, the gangs remain active, taking advantage of Israel’s control of Karem Abut Salem’s area and its refusal to ensure security.
Israel’s Systematic Targeting of Gaza Police Exacerbates Aid Theft
At the beginning of Gaza’s food crisis, food insecurity led many people to attack the aid trucks reaching the Strip. The police tried to stop these attacks; however, Israel bombed anyone from the police, regarding them as members of Hamas. As a result, any attempt to organize the delivery of food was met with bombing.
The looting, hence, increased, becoming organized, armed, and led by gangs.
Police efforts in Gaza to combat the looting have been undermined by Israeli airstrikes. For instance, in February, Israel launched an airstrike targeting policemen in Rafah while they were securing aid trucks.
Similar incidents occurred later that month. Israel assassinated the Director of Rafah Investigations, Ahmed Al-Yaqoubi, his deputy, Ayman Al-Rantisi, and Ibrahim Shatat, head of the Supply Investigation Department. Their vehicle was bombed in the Tal Al-Sultan neighborhood, west of Rafah.
On the same day, Israel again attacked a police vehicle killing two officers, Sami Abdul Alam and Munther Al-Farra. Alaraby geolocated the attack, finding that it occurred on a main aid route, suggesting that they were killed while securing the aid delivery.
Following these strikes, the U.N. said that the aid had collapsed due to the Israeli airstrikes targeting the police officers who guard the convoys.
Despite U.N. warnings, Israel carried out its attacks on police, targeting directors and officers.
Speaking to Misbar, Ismail al-Thawabteh said that Israel has killed 706 police officers and workers securing aid delivery through targeted strikes. Israel is “trying to create a security, administrative, governmental, and social vacuum,” Al-Thwabteh added.
Al-Thawabteh reported that Israel conducted 141 strikes on crews working to secure aid deliveries.
It should be noted that as Hamas has been governing the Gaza Strip since 2007, it has a civilian role in Gaza, which has no connection with its military activities. The civilian government in Gaza, including the police, shall be operating even during wartime to prevent the current chaotic scene. However, Israel falsely regarded them as Hamas fighters and bombed them, despite its knowledge of the situation in Gaza.
Ultimately, a chaotic situation was created in Gaza, making all the civilians, except for the looters, suffer from severe famine, all controlled and supported by Israel’s actions.
Is Israel Truly Facilitating Aid Transfers?
The Israeli military denied the aid groups' accusations of allowing the looting, claiming that its forces carried out targeted countermeasures against looters “with an emphasis on targeting the terrorists and preventing collateral damage to the aid trucks and the elements of the international community.” The Israeli military added that its soldiers are working to enable and facilitate aid transfer.
However, Misbar observations during the war contradict the military’s claims, revealing Israel’s use of warfare against the civilians in the Gaza Strip, and its encouragement of any act that might block the aid from Gaza.
In its attempts to intensify the famine in Gaza, a group of Israelis with ties to the army’s reservists blocked vital humanitarian aid trucks from passing through the Karem Abu Salem border crossing into Gaza.
The Israeli protesters stood in front of trucks packed with aid, waving Israeli flags, and chanting slogans against the delivery of any aid into the besieged Palestinian enclave.
Those protesters learned the locations of aid trucks from members of the Israeli police and military. The Guardian reviewed messages from internal internet chat groups and accounts from a number of witnesses and human rights activists, confirming that members of the Israeli security forces are colluding in the blockade.
Palestinian lorry drivers say that there is full cooperation between the settlers and the army. Similar to their inaction against looting gangs in Gaza, Israeli soldiers do intervene against settlers blocking aid. Instead, “the army was at the service of the settlers,” said Yazid al-Zoubi, 26, a Palestinian lorry driver, undermining Israel's claims of facilitating aid delivery.
Additionally, earlier this year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of stealing food aid in his speech to the U.S. Congress.
Misbar investigated his claim and found it to be misleading. Netanyahu has not provided any evidence supporting his claim.
Meanwhile, U.N. and human rights experts accused Israel of orchestrating a targeted starvation campaign, while simultaneously killing local police and humanitarian workers, and cutting off essential supplies needed for civilian survival.
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