How Israel is weaponising aid and armed gangs in Gaza

Fighting over aid

Israeli government bodies and military officials claim their primary objective is to prevent humanitarian aid from reaching Hamas, whether directly or by its assuming control over the supplies and consistently reject requests to allow any form of local security presence in Gaza to protect aid convoys from theft. When Gaza's Ministry of Interior tried to safeguard the deliveries without coordination with Israeli forces, its personnel were directly targeted by lethal air strikes.

Targeted attacks on security personnel and aid protection teams affiliated with the Ministry of Interior have continued throughout the 20-month conflict, with 754 officers killed, according to the Gaza Government Media Office. A specialised unit assigned to secure aid convoys was struck eight times by Israeli drones near the entrance to Deir al-Balah in central Gaza in the early hours of 23 May, as the unit was intercepting gangs looting humanitarian aid. Six of its officers were killed.

There was another air strike on 29 May at the Al-Saraya intersection in central Gaza City, a densely populated area crowded with civilians, the Israelis targeting the unit as its officers were trying to protect aid trucks from looting. Nine were killed. With these protection units under sustained assault and no accountability for the killings, the gangs have become increasingly emboldened and more pervasive.

Their operations now extend beyond intercepting aid trucks. On 28 May, one such gang stormed a warehouse operated by the UN World Food Programme in eastern Deir al-Balah, a facility housing several tonnes of flour and nutritional supplements. News of the break-in spread rapidly, drawing hundreds of desperate residents to the site in hopes of securing food supplies.

Controlled by gangs

Abu Alayyan (not his real name) told Al Majalla that his nine-member family had not eaten bread for two weeks. The last aid parcel he got (from an international organisation) was several months ago, and the price of flour is now more than $25 per kilogram. "I lost my job and my only source of income," he said. "Where am I supposed to get money to buy food for my kids? I have no choice but to go wherever I hear there's food available for free and take whatever I can to feed us for a few days."

Like hundreds of others who stormed the warehouses, Abu Alayyan said getting a single bag of flour was anything but simple. "We just came for a sack of flour," he said, "but we found gangs controlling the place. They had firearms, knives, and other sharp tools. They forced people to buy from them, or risk being injured or killed. I had to beg until one of them let me leave with a bag of flour, but many others weren't allowed to leave unless they paid."

Some residents accuse the international aid organisations of deliberately starving the population by hoarding flour and other supplies, instead of distributing them, but the World Food Programme said its looted warehouse had been holding stock intended for bakeries to continue their operations.

The WFP stated that on 19 May, it was instructed by the Israelis to suspend its activities and prohibit its staff from accessing the flour or supplying bakeries. This halted bakery operations and deepened the hunger crisis. It suggests that Israel wants to add further pressure to Gaza's civilians by driving them into a state of desperation.

Changing distribution

Under mounting international pressure, it authorised a newly formed US-based group—the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF)—to begin distributing food parcels to the displaced. It opened its first distribution centre on 27 May in western Rafah, followed by a second in the Morag corridor between Rafah and Khan Younis, and a third in the Netzarim axis in central Gaza, but operations ceased on the fourth day, while only one centre functioned on the fifth.

Mamdouh Al-Amouri, 34, a displaced man from Rafah now sheltering in Khan Younis, told Al Majalla that he had heard about the GHF food distribution in Rafah and joined the thousands of people queuing on the first day, but got nothing due to the limited supplies. "We haven't been able to feed our children for a while," he said.

"I saw everyone heading to Rafah, so I went too. There were thousands of people, but there was nothing left. Because of the crowding and chaos, some people stormed the centre and grabbed what they could—tables, wooden crates, even the iron fence. Everything was stolen. People began attacking each other and snatching parcels from one another." Several were injured amid the chaos, he said, while Israeli forces shot others.

On the evening of the first day of distribution, Gaza's Government Media Office accused the Israeli army and GHF of luring civilians into "death traps," with three people killed and 46 injured. Seven people were reported missing, presumably having been detained by the Israeli army. Yet the GHF denied that any fatalities or injuries had occurred.

The organisation explained that it had opted not to conduct screening procedures for aid recipients, allowing anyone in need to take what was available, given the extreme overcrowding and the desperate hunger caused by protracted border closures and severe restrictions on food supplies.

There is still not enough food, meaning that Israel continues to enforce its policy of starvation and genocide. Although it has finally opened some border crossings, the aid that it lets in remains woefully inadequate to meet the urgent needs of a population facing severe hunger and starvation.

Israel has only authorised the GHF to distribute a modest quantity of food parcels. This has fuelled theft and intimidation by gangs led by families long known for their unruly and aggressive behaviour. In Gaza, these groups have been accused of collaboration and complicity, aligning with Israeli interests at the expense of their own people. When people are bombed and starved for months on end, it seems this is what happens.