thousands-loot-un-agency-facilities-in-gaza,-take-suppliesThousands loot UN agency facilities in Gaza, take supplies

By EFE

29 Oct 2023, 17:03 PM EDT

Thousands of people have broken into warehouses and distribution centers of the UN Refugee Agency (UNRWA) in the central and southern Gaza Strip, controlled by the Islamist group Hamas, and have taken supplies stored there, The humanitarian agency reported this Sunday.

He specified that these people have taken wheat flour and other “survival” items such as hygiene equipment, and that in one of the raided warehouses, in Deir al Balah, located in the center of the Strip, there were supplies that had arrived in humanitarian convoys from Egypt.

In a statement, UNRWA Gaza Affairs Director Thomas White said: “This is a worrying sign that civil order is breaking down after three weeks of war and a strict siege in Gaza.”

“People are scared, frustrated and desperate. Tension and fear are worsened by the cutting of telephone and internet communication lines. “They feel alone, cut off from their families within Gaza and the rest of the world,” she lamented.

UNRWA highlighted in its note that the massive displacement of people from the north to the south of the Strip has put “enormous pressure” on communities in the southern part, adding further burden to already deteriorating public services.

According to data from the agency, to date about 80 trucks of humanitarian aid have entered the Gaza Strip in the last week through the Rafah crossing, bordering Egypt.

However, this aid is insufficient, taking into account that before the war, there were hundreds of aid trucks that passed through daily.

UNRWA is currently managing the receipt and storage of that aid in the Palestinian enclave, and indicated that no convoy could enter on Saturday due to the telecommunications outage.

This Sunday, the Palestinian telecommunications company Jawwal announced that internet and telephone connections are gradually being restored in Gaza, after they were interrupted on Friday with the expansion of ground operations by the Israeli Army.

Israel and Hamas have been locked in a war since October 7, after the Palestinian Islamist group attacked Israeli territory, leaving 1,400 dead, some 5,000 injured and taking 230 hostages to Gaza.

In retaliation, Israel has been bombing Gaza ever since, and since Friday it has been attacking with tanks inside the Strip, leaving more than 8,000 Palestinians dead and nearly 19,000 injured.

Keep reading:

  • Benjamin Netanyahu: Offensive against Hamas “will be long” and with the objective of rescuing the hostages
  • Israeli soldiers managed to enter the Gaza Strip under cover of bombing, but avoid calling it an “invasion”
  • Israel accused Hamas of using hospitals in Gaza as command centers; the militiamen denied it

By Scribe