Published October 29,2023
Thousands of people have looted United Nations aid warehouses to seize supplies, an act that the UN alarmingly describes as a sign of civil order starting to erupt.
“This is a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down after three weeks of war and a tight siege,” Thomas White, director of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza.
With Israel intensifying its military operations against Hamas, over half of Gaza’s 2.4 million inhabitants have been displaced. Even the UN World Food Programme’s senior spokeswoman Abeer Etefa admitted that people in Gaza are “desperate” and “hungry,” which is what made the looting of UN warehouses expected.
The looting incidents occurred primarily at UNRWA’s second-largest depot in Deir al-Balah, situated in the central Gaza Strip. The depots contained basic supplies like flour, soap, and hygiene kits. Individuals who participated in the looting defended their actions by explaining their lack of essential supplies.
“Our houses were destroyed. No one cares about us. We appeal to the people of the world. All international powers are against us. We needed aid, and we wouldn’t have done this if we weren’t in need,” said Gaza resident Abdulrahman al-Kilani, according to BBC.
This sentiment has been reiterated by Abeer Etefa, a senior spokeswoman for the UN World Food Programme (WFP), who stated that these incidents were “expected” given the “difficult conditions facing people.”
RELATED: Gazans Raiding Warehouses To Get Basic Survival Supplies And Toilet Paper
This image taken from the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip on October 29, 2023, shows black smoke ascending from the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (AFP)
Published October 29,2023
Civil order may be breaking down in Gaza says the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) following raids in which citizens looted supplies from warehouses where aid is stored for distribution.
People took flour and other basic hygiene supplies after storming several warehouses and distribution centres in the centre and south of the territory on Saturday, according to UNRWA.
Thomas White, the agency’s Gaza director, said the break-ins were “a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down after three weeks of war and a tight siege on Gaza. People are scared, frustrated and desperate,” he said.
Juliette Touma, a spokesperson for the agency, said the crowds broke into four facilities on Saturday. She said the warehouses did not contain any fuel, which has been in critically short supply since Israel cut off all shipments after the start of the war.
Some of the displaced Gazans who took wheat, flour and other basics from UN warehouses have been speaking to reporters.
RELATED: Thousands break into UN aid warehouses in Gaza to take food, ‘basic survival items’
File: United Nations and Red Crescent workers prepare aid for distribution to Palestinians at UNRWA warehouse in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Oct. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Hassan Eslaiah)
Published October 29,2023
Thousands of people broke into aid warehouses in Gaza to take food and “basic survival items,” a UN agency says, in a mark of growing desperation and the breakdown of public order three weeks into the war between Gaza’s Hamas terror group rulers and Israel.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, provides basic services to hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza.
Thomas White, the agency’s Gaza director, says the break-ins were “a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down after three weeks of war and a tight siege on Gaza.
“People are scared, frustrated and desperate,” he says.
Yesterday, The New York Times published a report backing up Israel’s assertion that Hamas is stockpiling food and fuel in the Gaza Strip, keeping it from residents who are in desperate need.
