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Looting cripples food supply in Gaza despite Israeli pledge to tackle gangs

$9.5 million in aid lost in October because of gang attacks; tension between Israel and UN agencies hobbles relief effort

Israel has failed to crack down on armed gangs attacking food convoys in Gaza, despite a pledge to do so in mid-October to help ward off famine in the Palestinian enclave, according to three UN and US officials familiar with the matter. The commitment, made behind closed doors, seemed like a breakthrough because, since the beginning of the war in October 2023, the international community has struggled to enlist Israel's support to improve the dire humanitarian situation in the war-ravaged territory, the three senior officials said.

But the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has remained focused on its fight against Hamas and taken only limited actions against the handful of gangs operating in parts of Gaza under Israeli control, according to the three officials, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

The office of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred questions on the pledge and relief operations in Gaza to the military. An IDF spokesperson declined to comment on what was agreed in October and what has been done to curb looting.

"Israel has taken significant steps to allow the maximum possible scope of aid to Gaza," the spokesperson said.

Now, UN and US officials say gang violence has spiralled out of control, crippling supply lines on which most of Gaza's 2.1 million civilians rely for survival.

In October, $9.5 million worth of food and other goods — nearly a quarter of all the humanitarian aid sent to Gaza that month — was lost because of attacks and looting, according to a previously unreported tally of incidents compiled by UN relief agencies with charity organizations.

The assessment of looting in November is still underway, but preliminary data shows that it was far worse, two people familiar with the matter said. In mid-November, a 109-truck convoy chartered by UN agencies came under attack minutes after it was ordered by the IDF to leave a border crossing in southern Gaza during the night, several hours ahead of the agreed schedule, according to five people familiar with the incident, including two who were present.

Stationed nearby, the IDF did not intervene, the five people said. The IDF spokesperson declined to comment on the incident.

Georgios Petropoulos, a coordinator at the UN's emergency-response arm, OCHA, said that aid agencies were unable to resolve the problem of lawlessness there by themselves.

"It's just gotten too big for humanitarians to solve," he told reporters upon returning from Gaza on Thursday.

The US Department of State declined to comment on Israel's October commitment, but said that looting remained the primary obstacle to aid delivery.

"We continue to press Israel on the need for bolstered security to ensure convoys with critical humanitarian assistance reach Palestinian civilians throughout Gaza," a spokesperson said.

Fourteen months into Israel's war against Hamas, the international relief machine is in disarray: UN agencies and charities say the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has reached one of its worst points because they cannot deliver and distribute enough food and medical supplies to Gaza's population. A new round of ceasefire talks this month has rekindled hope that Hamas would release Israeli hostages it has held captive since its October 7 attack on Israel last year, and that solutions can be found to boost humanitarian aid.

For now, however, relief operations are hobbled by a disagreement between Israel and much of the international community over who is responsible for feeding civilians in Gaza and maintaining order in the tiny territory.

The UN and the United States have repeatedly called on Israel to comply with international humanitarian laws, and provide security and assistance to Gaza civilians. But Israeli authorities say their only duty is to facilitate the transfer of food and medical supplies, and that they regularly do much more out of goodwill.

The stalemate has made organizing and coordinating relief operations immensely difficult, said Jamie McGoldrick, who was the UN Humanitarian chief for the Occupied Palestinian Territory from December to April.

To gauge the depth of the hunger crisis, US officials said they watch the percentage of Gaza's population to whom UN relief agencies could provide food assistance each month.

In November, it was 29 per cent, up from 24 per cent in October, but a sharp fall from a wartime peak of more than 70 per cent in April, according to UN data.

Mohammad Abdel-Dayem, owner of the Zadna 2 bakery in central Gaza, said he and his 60 employees have been out of business for a month, unable to provide bread to the 50,000 people they normally serve.

"We're not receiving any flour because of looting," he told Reuters by phone last week.

The IDF spokesperson challenged the claim that some bakeries are not receiving flour.

But a daily World Food Programme review of bakery operations seen by Reuters showed that 15 of the 19 bread factories the UN agency supports in Gaza were out of operation as of December 21, and that Zadna 2 has been closed since November 23 due to a lack of flour.

Some of the stolen food makes its way to the market, Abdel-Dayem said, but at prohibitive prices that only very few people can afford. Relief workers said they also face difficulties in accessing northern Gaza, where the IDF resumed combat against Hamas in October. An estimated 30,000 to 50,000 civilians remain stranded there, with little food and medical assistance.

The IDF spokesperson said a dedicated humanitarian response has been formulated for the area. Aside from fighting in the north, more than a dozen UN and US officials traced the deterioration of humanitarian conditions inside Gaza in the past three months to a decision by Israeli authorities in early October to ban commercial food shipments by businesses.

Those shipments accounted for nearly all the fresh food and more than half of all goods going into Gaza between May and September, according to Israeli military data.

Their abrupt suspension caused a sharp drop in supply and made attacking aid trucks an increasingly lucrative proposition, the UN and US officials said.

In October, 40 per cent of aid collected from the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza was looted, according to the tally of incidents seen by Reuters.

Israeli authorities have opened a new crossing, Kissufim, but gangs have also attacked convoys along that route, the UN said.

The gangs are formed along tribal and family lines, and include some criminal elements freed from prisons in Gaza during the Israeli offensive, according to relief and transport workers in Gaza.

The UN and the United States have pressed Israel to restore commercial shipments, saying that flooding Gaza with food would drive down prices and discourage looters, but Israeli authorities have not agreed to do so.

Depleted trucks

Early in the war, the UN sought to rely on unarmed Gaza policemen to secure convoys, but Israel was opening fire on them, saying it could not tolerate any force tied to Hamas.

Visiting the Kerem Shalom crossing in late November, an Israeli officer said it was the responsibility of the UN to distribute aid to Gazans once Israel allowed food across the border.

Waiving at piles of food, Col. Abdullah Halabi — clad in a bullet-proof vest and ballistic helmet — told reporters it was aid "waiting to be picked up by international organisations."

But OCHA's Petropoulos said gang violence makes this nearly impossible.

He and other relief workers said they were stunned by the attack on the 109-truck convoy on November 16 about four miles from the crossing.

Gunmen from several gangs surrounded the convoy and forced drivers to follow them to nearby compounds where they stole flour and food kits from 98 trucks, according to the five people familiar with the matter.

Drivers and their depleted trucks were released in the morning, they said.