Security messages seen by The Associated Press say armed groups and others have looted warehouses of supplies in northern Gaza since Wednesday
Witnesses and aid groups report looting in Gaza after two months of Israel’s blockadeBy SAM MEDNICK and SAMY MAGDYAssociated PressThe Associated PressTEL AVIV, Israel
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Armed groups and others have looted warehouses of supplies in northern Gaza as desperation spikes after more than two months of Israel’s blockade of the territory, locals and aid workers say, as Israel’s latest airstrikes continued into Saturday, killing over a dozen people.
Messages circulated among security officials for aid groups and seen by The Associated Press, and witnesses and organizations in Gaza, say looting has occurred since Wednesday by unidentified people, armed and unarmed. They’ve broken into warehouses held by the U.N. and aid groups as well as commercial warehouses, bakeries, stores and shops, they say.
Israel has blocked humanitarian aid from entering Gaza since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ended the latest ceasefire with Hamas in March, throwing the territory of over 2 million people into what is believed to be the worst humanitarian crisis in nearly 19 months of war.
Israel has said the blockade and its renewed military campaign are intended to pressure Hamas to release the remaining 59 hostages it still holds, and to disarm the Palestinian militant group.
The U.N. high commissioner for human rights previously warned that starving civilians as a military tactic constitutes a war crime.
Aid groups have said Gaza’s civilian population is facing starvation, and there is concern the desperation could lead to a breakdown of law and order. While there have been incidents of looting by armed gangs throughout the war, aid workers say this week’s incidents mark an escalation, with it being less organized and reaching urban areas.
The ransacking in Gaza City began Wednesday evening after reports that aid trucks had entered the north from the south, said one aid worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. A security report circulated among aid agencies that night saying a group of armed people broke into a bakery, driven by rumors of stored food supplies.
The storage was empty and the group moved to a soup kitchen affiliated with an international aid group in the Al-Shati camp and looted it, the report said.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency said its staff were safely evacuated on Wednesday after thousands of Palestinians breached its Gaza City field office and took medications. Louise Wateridge, a senior emergency officer at UNRWA, called the looting “the direct result of unbearable and prolonged deprivation.”
The ransacking continued through Friday night. Three witnesses told the AP that dozens of armed men stormed into at least two U.N. warehouses, pushing past police and local security guards protecting the facilities.
“There were organized gangs,” said Ahmed Abu Awad, a resident of western Gaza City, where some of the looting took place.
Yahya Youssef, another witness, said he saw dozens of armed men on the streets in western Gaza City in gunfights for two consecutive nights with policemen and security guards that protect U.N. and aid groups’ facilities.
Curfew enforced
Both men said Israeli drones and aircraft were flying over the area while looting was underway.
An Israeli strike Friday night killed three people — two tasked with guarding the area in western Gaza City and a child — the Hamas-run interior ministry said in a statement. Staff at Shifa hospital, which received the bodies, confirmed the deaths.
The Israeli military said it could not comment on the strike without being provided with the exact coordinates of the incident.
Gaza’s interior ministry said Saturday it killed six suspects and wounded 13 others with gunshots to the legs in the past two days over looting activities. The ministry also enforced a curfew starting Friday in some of Gaza City’s main streets.
The al-Najjar family, one of Gaza City’s most prominent, condemned the pillaging and called for respect and the protection of public and private property. “We categorically reject the chaos that harms the interests of the nation and its citizens,” it said in a statement.
In Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza, desperate families pushed and shoved at food distribution sites to reach steaming vats of soup.
“We are eight people. I need to provide them with a bite of food,” said Faten Al-Sabbagh. “I wish I can find even bread, but there is nothing and we are unable to. The prices are high and there are no salaries.”
The top United Nations court on Friday wrapped a week of hearings on what Israel must do to ensure desperately needed humanitarian aid reaches Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Israeli strikes on Gaza continued overnight Friday, leaving at least 17 people dead, including children, in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to hospital records.
Among the dead were 11 people from the same family, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. Another strike killed two newly married couples, one of their families said.
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Magdy reported from Cairo, Egypt. Associated Press reporter Wafaa Shurafa contributed from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip.
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