How was a UN aid convoy robbed near Israeli military positions?

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The looting of 97 trucks of a UN aid convoy in sight of Israeli military installations at the Karem Abu Salem crossing (Kerem Shalom for Israelis) has exacerbated the suffering of the blockaded Gaza Strip, already in an acute humanitarian crisis.

The 109-truck convoy of aid shipments from several UN agencies was intercepted by armed men on Saturday night who forced the drivers to unload cargo at gunpoint, injured aid workers and damaged the vehicles, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said.

UNRWA did not identify the perpetrators, only saying the cause was the “total breakdown of civil order” among a population that the Israeli authorities are, according to the agency, responsible for ensuring receives enough aid to meet its basic needs.

The television channel, Al-Aqsa, reported that Hamas’s Interior Ministry sources in Gaza had confirmed more than 20 of the gang members suspected of carrying out the robbery had been killed by Hamas security forces acting in coordination with tribal committees.

Anyone caught taking part in similar looting would be treated with “an iron fist”, it said.

How serious was this?

Very.

According to Al Jazeera correspondent Maram Humaid, fears among Palestinians centre on the prospect of the “imminent famine” facing Gaza’s south, in addition to that in the blockaded north.

Food, including basics such as flour and vegetables, is almost impossible to source and, in the rare instances it can be found, is often priced beyond the reach of many.

Trucks carrying humanitarian aid destined for the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, queue at the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Israel, November 11, 2024. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

How bad was it before?

Intensely.

The amount of food allowed into Gaza by the Israeli military in October fell to about a quarter of the average for the rest of the year.

In the north of Gaza, blockaded by the Israeli military since early October, conditions have been described by UN heads as “apocalyptic”.

Despite Israel failing to meet nearly all the conditions set out in an ultimatum by its chief ally, the United States, to improve the desperate conditions in Gaza, no action was taken.

Moreover, Israel’s intention to essentially ban UNRWA, the UN’s principal aid agency in Gaza, has also continued unchecked despite international protests.

UNRWA head, Phillipe Lazzarini, told the state-run Turkish press agency Anadolu on Monday there was no “Plan B” for aid delivery to Gaza, aid that supported the roughly 2.2 million people trapped within the enclave.

FILE - Palestinians line up for free food during the ongoing Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip in Rafah, Jan. 9, 2024. A top U.N. official said Friday, May 3, 2024, that hard-hit northern Gaza was now in “full-blown famine" after more than six months of war between Israel and Hamas and severe Israeli restrictions on food deliveries to the Palestinian territory. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali, File)

Why didn’t the Israeli army do anything when armed groups attacked the convoy?

It’s unclear.

The raid took place near the heavily fortified – by Israel – Karem Abu Salem crossing between Gaza and Israel.

Palestinians in Gaza have told Al Jazeera of their confusion over how, in one of the most heavily surveilled territories on the planet, the presence of so many armed men could have gone undetected.

The Washington Post said it had obtained an internal UN memo from October that said the gangs in Gaza “may be benefitting from a passive if not active benevolence” or “protection” from the Israeli army.

One gang leader, the memo said, had established a “military-like compound” in an area “restricted, controlled and patrolled by the IDF (Israeli army)”.

Earlier this month, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on armed Palestinian gangs routinely raiding aid convoys entering through Karem Abu Salem, an area ostensibly under the control of the Israeli army.

“I saw one Israeli tank, and a Palestinian armed with a Kalashnikov [rifle] just 100 metres [about 328 feet] from it,” a senior official from an organisation working in Gaza told the newspaper.

“The armed men beat the drivers and take all the food if they aren’t paid [protection money].”

Have Israelis illegally blocked aid before?

Yes.

In May, outgoing Israeli police chief Kobi Shabtai said Ben-Gvir had prevented him from protecting aid convoys from the Israeli far-right and settler protesters looking to block relief from reaching Gaza.

The same month, the UK’s Guardian newspaper reported that individual members of Israel’s security services and military were tipping off protesters on the timing and passage of aid trucks into Gaza to allow for their interception.

Late last week, Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir told Israel National News that he was opposed to any form of humanitarian assistance entering Gaza.

Criticising the cabinet decision to marginally increase aid in light of the US ultimatum, the far-right minister told the channel: “I believe that as long as we have hostages in Gaza, we must not give any concessions to the Strip, not even to the civilian population.”