Gangs looting Gaza aid operate in areas under Israeli control, humanitarian groups say

Source: Washington Post

WP EXCLUSIVE
Gangs looting Gaza aid operate in areas under Israeli control, humanitarian groups say

A U.N. memo obtained by The Post concluded that gangs “may be benefiting from a passive if not active benevolence” or “protection” from Israel’s military.

By Claire Parker, Loveday Morris, Hajar Harb, Miriam Berger and Hazem Balousha
November 18, 2024 at 4:25 p.m. EST

CAIRO — As Gaza’s hunger crisis worsens, organized gangs are stealing much of the aid Israel allows into the enclave, operating freely in areas controlled by the Israeli military, according to aid group officials, humanitarian workers, transport companies and witnesses.

Officials said criminal looting has become the greatest impediment to distributing aid in the southern half of Gaza, home to the vast majority of displaced Palestinians. Armed bands of men have killed, beaten and kidnapped aid truck drivers in the area around Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing, the main entry point into Gaza’s south, aid workers and transport companies said.

The thieves, who have run cigarette-smuggling operations throughout this year but are now also stealing food and other supplies, are tied to local crime families, residents say. The gangs are described by observers as rivals of Hamas and, in some cases, they have been targeted by remnants of Hamas’s security forces in other parts of the enclave.

An internal United Nations memo obtained by The Washington Post concluded last month that the gangs “may be benefiting from a passive if not active benevolence” or “protection” from the Israel Defense Forces. One gang leader, the memo said, established a “military like compound” in an area “restricted, controlled and patrolled by the IDF.”

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Morris reported from Berlin, Harb from London, Berger from Jaffa, Israel, and Balousha from Toronto. Lior Soroka in Tel Aviv and Meg Kelly in Washington contributed to this report.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/11/18/gaza-looting-aid-convoys-israel-famine/