Israel-Hamas War: Chaos as Gazans mob aid truck from Rafah crossing
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF, REUTERSPublished: DECEMBER 17, 2023 14:34Updated: DECEMBER 17, 2023 16:59 A general view of the Rafah crossing from the Egyptian side with a truck carrying humanitarian aid for Palestinians, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, Egypt, November 12, 2023.(photo credit: REUTERS/HADEER MAHMOUD)
Hundreds of people were seen running towards the trucks as they crossed into Gaza from Egypt, and several videos showed Gazans climbing up and throwing aid to those on the ground.
Videos circulating on Sunday afternoon showed chaotic scenes as ordinary Gazans attempted to mob humanitarian aid trucks that entered the Hamas-run territory via the Rafah crossing. Hundreds of people were seen running towards the trucks as they crossed into Gaza from Egypt, and several videos showed Gazans climbing up and throwing aid to those on the ground.Hamas has recently disrupted the flow of aid that was allowed into Gaza. Last week, aid trucks' entry into Gaza through the Rafah crossing was delayed for over an hour and a half, according to the IDF, and videos have emerged from civilians in Gaza complaining that Hamas has continuously taken the small amount of aid allowed in to Gaza for its own purposes.
More images of chaos emerge from Gaza, as dozens of people are seen looting an aid truck moments after it entered the strip via the Rafah crossing.️@APpic.twitter.com/DR6rDhLNzo
Kerem Shalom crossing also opens to aidAdvertisement Humanitarian aid trucks wait in line to be inspected at the Kerem Shalom crossing, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, on the border between Israel, Gaza and Egypt in this still image taken from video released December 12, 2023. (credit: COGAT via X/Handout via REUTERS)
The Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza opened on Sunday for aid trucks for the first time since the outbreak of the war, officials said, a move intended to double the amount of food and medicine reaching the enclave.The crossing had been closed after an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and aid was being delivered solely through Gaza's Rafah crossing with Egypt, which Israel said could only accommodate the entry of 100 trucks per day.
Two sources in the Egypt Red Crescent told Reuters that trucks were starting to enter on Sunday through the Kerem Shalom crossing on their way into Gaza. One said there were 79 trucks.
Kerem Shalom, on the border of Egypt, Israel and Gaza, is one of the main transit points for goods in and out of Gaza, allowing much faster transit than the Rafah passenger crossing a few kilometres away.
"Starting today (Dec.17), UN aid trucks will undergo security checks and be transferred directly to Gaza via Kerem Shalom, to abide by our agreement with the US," COGAT, the branch of military which coordinated humanitarian aid with the Palestinian territories, said in a statement.
The prime minister's office has previously said this would allow Israel to maintain its commitments to permit the entry of 200 trucks of aid per day, agreed upon in a hostage deal brokered and implemented last month.Advertisement
Asked if aid had crossed into Gaza, an Israeli official said yes.
Israel had already agreed to allow trucks to be inspected at Kerem Shalom but the trucks had previously been obliged to return to Rafah, to cross into Gaza from Egypt and aid groups had been calling for them to be allowed in directly.
As Israel's campaign in Gaza has gathered pace, the humanitarian situation in the besieged enclave has worsened dramatically with the United Nations and other world bodies warning of severe shortages of food, clean water and medicines.
The aid may not reach Gazans, Colonel Elad Goren, head of the civil department at COGAT told Reuters, saying humanitarian agencies in Gaza had not increased their capacity to distribute aid to meet the demand from the influx of Gazans who have fled to the south of the enclave on Israeli advice.
"If the UN won't have the capacity to collect and to distribute, it doesn't matter how many crossings we will open," Goren said. "They cannot rely upon the same mechanism they had before the war.
"We adjusted ourselves," Goren said. "The UN unfortunately didn't."
