Gaza ‘civil order starting to break down’ as food stores ransacked
UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees said wheat flour and other supplies had been pillaged at several warehouses.
The UN warned on Sunday that “civil order” was starting to collapse in Gaza after thousands of people ransacked its food warehouses in the war-torn Palestinian territory.
The UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said wheat flour and other supplies had been pillaged at several warehouses. “This is a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down after three weeks of war and a tight siege,” said UNRWA’s Gaza chief Thomas White.
One of the warehouses in the central town of Deir al-Balah had been used to store supplies from humanitarian convoys that began crossing into Gaza from Egypt on October 21, it said.
“Thousands of people broke into several UNRWA warehouses and distribution centres in the middle and southern areas of the Gaza Strip, taking wheat flour and other basic survival items like hygiene supplies,” UNRWA said.
Since Israel lifted a total blockade on normal food, water, medicine and fuel deliveries into Gaza, UNRWA says 117 aid trucks have crossed into the strip, but aid agencies say the numbers are far too low. Before the conflict, an average of 500 trucks a day entered Gaza.
“Supplies on the market are running out while the humanitarian aid coming into the Gaza Strip on trucks from Egypt is insufficient,” said Mr White. “The needs of the communities are immense, if only for basic survival, while the aid we receive is meagre and inconsistent.”
Some 33 trucks carrying water, food and medical supplies entered Gaza via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Sunday, the largest convoy since deliveries began again.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron “stressed the importance of getting urgent humanitarian support” into the territory, while UN chief Antonio Guterres said the situation was getting “more desperate by the hour”.
AFP
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