Israel has failed to crack down on armed gangs attacking food convoys in Gaza, despite a pledge to do so in mid-October to help ward off famine in the Palestinian enclave, according to three UN and US officials familiar with the matter.
The commitment, made behind closed doors, seemed like a breakthrough because, since the beginning of the war in October 2023, the international community has struggled to enlist Israel’s support to improve the dire humanitarian situation in the war-ravaged territory, the three senior officials said.
But the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has remained focused on its fight against Hamas and taken only limited actions against the handful of gangs operating in parts of Gaza under Israeli control, according to the three officials, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.
The office of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred questions on the pledge and relief operations in Gaza to the military. An IDF spokesperson declined to comment on what was agreed in October and what has been done to curb looting.
“Israel has taken significant steps to allow the maximum possible scope of aid to Gaza,” the spokesperson said.
Now, UN and US officials say gang violence has spiralled out of control, crippling supply lines on which most of Gaza’s 2.1 million civilians rely for survival.
In October, US$9.5 million worth of food and other goods – nearly a quarter of all the humanitarian aid sent to Gaza that month – was lost because of attacks and looting, according to a previously unreported tally of incidents compiled by UN relief agencies with charity organisations.
The assessment of looting in November is still underway, but preliminary data shows that it was far worse, two people familiar with the matter said.
In mid-November, a 109-truck convoy chartered by UN agencies came under attack minutes after it was ordered by the IDF to leave a border crossing in southern Gaza during the night, several hours ahead of the agreed schedule, according to five people familiar with the incident, including two who were present.
Stationed nearby, the IDF did not intervene, the five people said. The IDF spokesperson declined to comment on the incident.
Georgios Petropoulos, a coordinator at the UN’s emergency-response arm, OCHA, said that aid agencies were unable to resolve the problem of lawlessness there by themselves.
“It’s just gotten too big for humanitarians to solve,” he told reporters upon returning from Gaza on Thursday.
The US Department of State declined to comment on Israel’s October commitment, but said that looting remained the primary obstacle to aid delivery.
“We continue to press Israel on the need for bolstered security to ensure convoys with critical humanitarian assistance reach Palestinian civilians throughout Gaza,” a spokesperson said.
