People forced to climb, fight on top of aid trucks in Gaza in desperation
There is a very high level of hunger and desperation in Gaza. What we are witnessing on a daily basis is heartbreaking. As soon as aid trucks appear, when the small number of them are allowed by the Israeli military to enter, a crowd of desperate people swarm to them, climb on them, trying to grab even a small portion of food.
They are sometimes even fighting between each other, because if they don’t grab food, they and their children are not going to eat for that day. There is no organised distribution in the majority of the areas. There is also no protection for those who receive or deliver aid.
We see children fainting while seeking aid because of the heat, and families walking long distances with no guarantee they are going to get food or water. It shows the total collapse of humanitarian access for these people. It shows also the consequences of enforced starvation and dehydration.
Aid truck drivers in Gaza ‘have no protection at all’
Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim al-Khalili visited a UN warehouse in northern Gaza, where, four days after Israel agreed to allow a limited number of humanitarian aid trucks to cross the border, nothing has arrived.
He spoke to Jihad Shuheiber, a truck driver who was shot when a gang attacked the aid truck he was driving
“The UN cars come in with us – we load the aid together, then they let us out in small groups, 10 vehicles at a time, but as soon as we exit, people swarm us; they climb onto the trucks, damage the vehicles,” Shuheiber said.
“Drivers have no protection at all. Sometimes, you’ll see 1,000 people surrounding one truck – you can’t even see the front of the vehicle. It’s heartbreaking,” Shuheiber said.
A US government analysis has found no evidence Hamas has systematically stolen aid – despite Israeli claims. But armed gangs have filled the power vacuum left by nearly two years of Israeli bombardment.
‘I haven’t had any flour for nearly two months’: Khan Younis resident
Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim al-Khalili has spoken to Palestinians in Gaza who are struggling to find any food to feed their family after Israel’s months-long blockade. This has forced some people to loot the limited number of aid trucks entering Gaza before they reach warehouses.
Imad al-Attar, living in Khan Younis, who had looted a bag of flour from an aid truck so that he could feed his children, told Al Jazeera that his family hasn’t had “any flour for nearly two months”.
“We just want to eat and survive,” al-Attar said as he carried a bag of flour over his shoulders.
Ashraf Azzam, who is living in Gaza City, said “even the amounts of aid entering now are not enough for the starving Palestinian population, which urgently needs larger quantities”.
“In the past, we used to receive respectful notifications inviting us to collect aid packages from warehouses in an organised manner;” he said.
“Now, with very few trucks coming in, desperate and starving people – who have been starved by the occupation – are forced to rush the trucks and seize the aid; as a result, ordinary people, the elderly and people with disabilities can’t get this aid,” Azzam added.
Palestinians at an aid distribution point in Gaza’s Netzarim Corridor
