The UN warned on Sunday that civil order was crumbling in Gaza after hundreds of Palestinians stormed its food warehouses in the war-torn Palestinian territory.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) reported that wheat, flour, and other goods had been looted from multiple warehouses.
“This is a worrying sign that civil order is breaking 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”, the statement reads.
“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 continued.
The crisis began on October 7, when Hamas operatives poured across the Gaza border and went on the rampage in Israel, killing 1,400 people and capturing 230 more.
Since then, Israel has launched a ferocious assault that, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, has killed over 8,000 Palestinians, half of whom are minors.
Israel also established a comprehensive ban on normal food, water, medical, and gasoline deliveries into Gaza, with just two weeks passing before the first convoy of humanitarian relief arrived.
UNRWA claims 84 relief trucks have crossed into Gaza since then, but aid organizations claim the figure is far too low. Prior to the fighting, UN estimates showed an average of 500 trucks entering Gaza each day.
Thomas White went on to say, “Supplies on the market are running out while the humanitarian aid coming into the Gaza Strip on trucks from Egypt is insufficient”.
“The needs of the communities are immense, if only for basic survival, while the aid we receive is meager and inconsistent”, the United Nations representative added.
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