After 97 UN aid trucks in Gaza ‘violently looted’ by armed men, food prices rise

Food prices are rising in the Gaza Strip after armed men attacked and robbed nearly 100 UN aid trucks crossing from Israel.

Of the 109 trucks that entered central Gaza on Saturday, 97 were “violently looted” and “forced at gunpoint to release aid,” according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

“Due to the severe shortage of flour, all eight bakeries supported by the UN in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis have been operating with reduced capacity for weeks. Many have been forced to close,” the organization added. “Without immediate intervention, severe food shortages will worsen, endangering the lives of more than two million people who depend on aid to survive.”

A woman in the city of Deir al-Balah told the Associated Press that the price of flour has now risen to more than $100 a bag, if it can be found.

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UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said a convoy of 109 trucks had been ordered by the Israeli military to take “another, unknown route” after aid was delivered to the Kerem Shalom crossing and that the trucks had been looted near the crossing.

Israel accuses gangs and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas of stealing the aid.

However, Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas official based abroad, said the hijackers were young Bedouin who worked in eastern Rafah near Israeli military bases.

Al-Aqsa TV, which is owned by the militants, says that the security forces under Hamas in Gaza went out to fight the robbers, and 20 of them were killed.

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Palestinians are seen attacking trucks loaded with humanitarian aid delivered by a US-built ship in the middle of the Gaza Strip on May 18, 2024. (AP/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Nora Muhanna, a Gaza resident who was displaced from Gaza City, told the AP, “From the beginning, there are no goods, and even if there is, there is no money.”

UNRWA also said “Israeli authorities continue to ignore their legal obligations under international law to ensure that basic humanitarian needs are met and to facilitate the safe delivery of aid.

Aid trucks from UNRWA deliver aid near Gaza City on June 19, 2024. (Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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“Such operations continue when trucks enter the Gaza Strip, until people are reached with essential aid,” wrote a statement to X.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.