Israel Accused of Orchestrating Humanitarian Aid Theft in Gaza Through Armed Gangs
Gazan Tribal Authority Warns of Israeli Military-Backed Plan to Starve and Displace Palestinians by Hijacking Aid Deliveries.
Watan-The High Council for Tribal Affairs in the Gaza Strip warned on Wednesday of an Israeli plot to steal humanitarian aid through local gangs operating under direct supervision of the Israeli army, with the aim of intensifying Palestinian starvation and forcing mass displacement.
In a statement, the council said that the Israeli occupation is preventing any effort to “protect” the aid designated for Gaza, as part of a “malicious” plan to sponsor chaos and looting through criminal groups working directly under its control.
This scheme, the council explained, is part of a systematic effort to plunder humanitarian aid, starve the population, and drive them into forced migration.
The council strongly condemned Israel’s refusal to secure aid entering through the Kerem Shalom crossing, leaving it vulnerable to gangs and looters operating under its protection.
It accused the Israeli military of playing “a central role in managing and fueling chaos in Gaza” through “its dirty arms—collaborators and thieves who have sold out their national and tribal identities.”
The council stressed that these individuals have lost all national and tribal cover and have become “tools of the occupation in executing its criminal agenda.”
Before the Israeli closure of Gaza’s border crossings on March 2, aid convoys entering Gaza had already been subject to repeated theft by gangs that the Government Media Office said operate under military cover to destabilize the area.
For months during the genocide campaign, the Israeli army reportedly targeted personnel assigned to protect incoming humanitarian aid as part of a deliberate policy to facilitate looting by local militias under Israeli sponsorship.
On August 11, 2024, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted unnamed sources in international aid organizations operating in Gaza, revealing that “the Israeli army allows armed men to loot aid trucks and extort protection fees from drivers.”
These sources said armed groups blocked much of the aid arriving through Kerem Shalom.
The report confirmed that “the looting is systematic and the army turns a blind eye. Since aid organizations refuse to pay protection money, the aid often ends up in military-run warehouses.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Gaza’s Government Media Office accused Israel of violating its commitments by continuing to block aid through Kerem Shalom for a third consecutive day.
“The occupation halted the entry of aid it had claimed it would permit since last Monday, with no legal or humanitarian justification,” the office stated. “This comes amid severe shortages of food, medicine, and fuel, and a devastating collapse in health and living conditions.”
Since March 2, Israel has continued a systematic starvation policy against Gaza’s 2.4 million residents by closing all crossings and trapping aid at the borders, pushing the territory into famine and causing widespread deaths.
On Monday, Israel’s public broadcaster Kan reported that U.S. Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff promised Hamas that Washington would pressure Tel Aviv to resume aid entry in exchange for the release of Israeli-American captive Aidan Alexander.
Last week, Hamas released Alexander—who holds both American and Israeli citizenship—after negotiations with Witkoff conducted independently of Tel Aviv.
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would continue military operations in Gaza but admitted facing external pressure to allow humanitarian aid in, according to a video shared on Telegram.
Hamas responded by calling Netanyahu’s remarks a “deceptive attempt to mislead the international community,” asserting that “not a single truck has entered the Strip so far, including the few that reached Kerem Shalom, none of which were received by any international organization.”
On Tuesday, UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric confirmed in a press briefing that the aid had not reached UN warehouses nor been distributed.
As of 18:40 GMT, no Palestinian authority had confirmed that aid trucks had entered Gaza.
Since October 7, 2023, and with full U.S. support, Israel has carried out a genocidal war in Gaza, resulting in over 175,000 Palestinian deaths and injuries—most of them children and women—alongside more than 11,000 missing and hundreds of thousands forcibly displaced.
