Lack of Plan for Governing Gaza Formed Backdrop to Deadly Convoy Chaos

Source: New York Times

Lack of Plan for Governing Gaza Formed Backdrop to Deadly Convoy Chaos

Patrick Kingsley
Sun, March 3, 2024 at 11:37 AM EST·6 min read

JERUSALEM — Israel’s reluctance to fill the current leadership vacuum in the northern Gaza Strip formed the backdrop to the chaos that led to the deaths Thursday of dozens of Palestinians on the Gaza coast, analysts and aid workers have said.

More than 100 were killed and 700 injured, Gaza health officials said, after thousands of hungry civilians rushed at a convoy of aid trucks, leading to a stampede and prompting Israeli soldiers to fire at the crowd.

The immediate causes of the chaos were extreme hunger and desperation: The United Nations has warned of a looming famine in northern Gaza, where the incident occurred. Civilian attempts to ambush aid trucks, Israeli restrictions on convoys and the poor condition of roads damaged in the war have made it extremely difficult for food to reach the roughly 300,000 civilians still stranded in that region, leading the United States and others to airdrop aid instead.

But analysts say this dynamic has been exacerbated by Israel’s failure to set in motion a plan for how the north will be governed.

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Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/news/lack-plan-governing-gaza-formed-163705772.html

Original NYT link (paywall): https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/03/world/middleeast/israel-aid-gaza-convoy.html