Looting of aid reaching Gaza has been made easier by Israel’s army targeting the local police which would otherwise be able to prevent it, a group of non-governmental organizations said Friday.
A report by 29 NGOs, including Save the Children, Oxfam and Care, said that humanitarian aid entering Gaza had fallen to an all-time low, averaging 37 humanitarian trucks per day in October, and 69 in the first week of November.
The NGOs pointed out that “merely counting the number of trucks” was no longer an adequate measure of gauging the amount of aid reaching the people in the Gaza Strip.
“Looting is an ongoing issue,” they said, calling the theft of goods “a consequence of Israel’s targeting of the remaining police forces in Gaza” as well as of scarcity of essential goods, lack of routes and the closure of most crossing points which had resulted in “desperation of the population amid those dire conditions.”
Based on “media reports,” the NGOs accused Israel’s army of “failing to prevent aid trucks from being looted and armed gangs from extorting aid organizations for protection money.”
In “some cases,” the report said, “the remaining members of local police forces tried to take action against the looters, but were attacked by Israeli troops.”
Incidents had taken place “close by or in full view of Israeli forces without them intervening, even when truck drivers asked for assistance,” the report added.
Meanwhile, Israeli air strikes had killed at least 20 aid workers from mostly Palestinian organizations between October 10 and November 13, the NGOs said.
“Staff were killed in their homes, in displacement camps and while delivering life-saving aid,” they affirmed.
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