Two dead after people break into WFP warehouse in search of food
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) says its warehouse in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah has been broken into by hungry people “in search of food supplies” that were going to be distributed.
WFP said preliminary reports indicate that at least two people died and several others were injured in the incident, but that it is still confirming the details of what happened.
“Humanitarian needs have spiralled out of control after 80 days of complete blockade of all food assistance and other aid into Gaza,” the agency said, adding that it has warned of “the risks imposed by limiting humanitarian aid to hungry people in desperate need of assistance”.
WFP called for an immediate increase in assistance. “This is the only way to reassure people that they will not starve,” it said.
#Gaza pic.twitter.com/hbJYa6iEv9
— WFP in the Middle East & North Africa (@WFP_MENA) May 28, 2025
Desperation fuelling chaos in Gaza as families face deepening hunger
The deadly incident in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah occurred at a WFP warehouse believed to have been holding bags of flour, according to Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City.
“What happened today just echoes the scene yesterday at the distribution point” in Rafah in southern Gaza, where at least three Palestinians were killed as they tried to get assistance, Mahmoud reported.
“People are hungry. They’re driven by desperation,” he said. “Desperation fuels chaos, and hunger creates the acts of violence that we’ve been seeing.”
Gaza healthcare ‘on death row’, NGOs warn
Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), Oxfam, and other non-profit groups are calling for “full, independent and international investigations into the attacks on healthcare in Gaza as violations of international humanitarian law”.
In the open letter, the organisations also urged the international community to “take meaningful steps to ensure those responsible are held legally to account”.
They added that a number of Gaza health facilities have been hit in Israeli attacks over the past two weeks, which they said “amount to Israel effectively placing Gaza’s health care – and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians – on death row”.
The targeted facilities include:
- Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, which was struck by Israeli fire on May 13 and 19
- European Hospital, also in Khan Younis, hit on May 13 and is now not functioning
- Kamal Adwan and Indonesian hospitals in northern Gaza
- Al-Awda Hospital, also in northern Gaza
