The gang members are “operating in cooperation with the Israeli forces” to target aid convoys, Hamas’s Basem Naim said.

SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS AND JEREMY SCAHILL, DROP SITE NEWS, NOV 19, 2024

Palestinian security forces on Monday killed at least 20 members of an organized gang allegedly responsible for looting aid trucks in the southern Gaza Strip, according to a statement by the Interior Ministry in Gaza.  The ambush by local security forces came two days after nearly 100 trucks were violently looted after crossing into southern Gaza in one of the biggest raids of its kind since the start of the war.

For over a year, Israel has used starvation as a weapon of war, restricting aid to Palestinians in Gaza to such a degree that a UN-backed panel last week issued an alert, warning of “an imminent and substantial likelihood of famine” across the enclave. The trickle of goods that are allowed in are being increasingly targeted by armed criminal groups, who either force truck convoys to pay exorbitant extortion fees or simply rob the aid. Much of this is facilitated by the Israeli military, who have systematically targeted Palestinian security forces charged with protecting the convoys, and then have allowed armed gunmen to attack aid convoys in areas under its control.

“These are groups of men from specific clans or families, mostly criminals, who formed gangs to steal the humanitarian aid, either by taking armed control of trucks or imposing a fee, thousands of dollars for each truck. The stolen goods were sold again on the black market at very high prices. Usually, the gangs operate meters away from the Israeli army, carrying different types of weapons, and have all the communication equipment,” said Dr. Basem Naim, a senior member of Hamas’s political bureau and a former government minister in Gaza. “There were repeated attempts to contact them and to demand them to end these kinds of attacks and to leave the area, but in vain,” Naim told Drop Site News. “There was a tremendous pressure from the people to end this phenomenon by any means, because of the catastrophic consequences on the humanitarian situation. It was clear for everyone that they are operating in cooperation with the Israeli forces, and protected by them, and any attempt to go forcefully against them was encountered by a very aggressive Israeli response, so that dozens of young people were killed by the Israeli forces, while they tried to protect the humanitarian aid.” 

Naim’s comments follow extensive reporting on how the Israeli military effectively allows humanitarian aid convoys to be looted. “The Israel Defense Forces is allowing armed Palestinians to loot aid convoys entering Gaza and to extort protection money from them,” a recent investigation by Haaretz found. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but denied the allegation to Haaretz and other outlets, saying they have conducted “targeted countermeasures” against looters. 

At the same time, Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of hijacking aid convoys to hoard goods for its fighters or to profit by selling them at exorbitant prices. That narrative has been deployed to justify aspects of Israel’s starvation campaign against the people of Gaza. Netanyahu recently justified Israeli attacks near aid trucks as part of an effort to prevent local government civil workers and security forces in Gaza from performing basic functions.  “I asked the IDF to come up with an orderly plan to eradicate the governmental capacity, which is related to the denial of their ability to distribute humanitarian aid,” he told the Knesset Monday. “We want to ensure that the humanitarian aid is not looted by Hamas and others.” The recent clashes between the Palestinian government and Hamas-led forces against the gangs undermine that narrative.  According to an internal UN memo obtained by the Washington Post, “the gangs ‘may be benefiting from a passive if not active benevolence’ or ‘protection’ from the Israel Defense Forces. One gang leader, the memo said, established a ‘military-like compound’ in an area ‘restricted, controlled and patrolled by the IDF.’”

Palestinian security forces are now actively clashing with the organized gangs that are looting much of the aid.  In the incident on Monday, “more than 20 members of gangs involved in stealing aid trucks were killed in a security operation carried out by security forces in coordination with tribal committees,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Among those killed was the leader of the group, Yasser Abu Shabbab, who has been implicated in the killings of local security officers.

“Today’s security operation will not be the last, and it is the beginning of an extensive security operation that has been planned for a long time and will expand to include all those involved in stealing aid trucks,” an interior ministry source quoted in Al-Quds Al-Arabi said. They added that the security services had monitored communications between the gangs and Israeli occupation forces,” which he accused of “covering up the gangs’ activities, directing their missions, and providing them with security cover from Shin Bet officers [the Israel’s internal security service].”

The interior ministry has even formed a new unit called Sahm (Arabic for arrow), tasked with protecting aid convoys. Formed by police officers, security personnel, and community volunteers, the Sahm unit has successfully intercepted gangs trying to hijack aid trucks in Al-Maghazi and Al-Nuseirat refugee camps.Subscribe

The problem of armed groups robbing aid trucks worsened significantly after Israel invaded Rafah in May and took control of the border crossing located there. Since then, most of the aid has entered through the Karam Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing. Israel has been repeatedly accused of either allowing the looting of aid trucks to take place or of directly facilitating them. “The same plans were implemented by the Israelis in different areas in the Gaza Strip,” Naim, the Hamas official, told Drop Site. He accused Israel of empowering these armed criminal groups “to sabotage the life of Palestinians and to control the aid. It was mostly successful east of Rafah because it’s near the border, far away from the urban areas and mostly within the total control of the Israeli forces.”

On November 15, armed gangs looted 19 trucks after entering Gaza, the head of Gaza’s Government Media Office, Ismail Thawabteh, was quoted as saying. The gangs appeared to be coordinating with Israeli forces to steal the shipments, he added.

The armed group targeted in Monday’s security operation was allegedly involved in an attack a day later, on November 16, on a joint 109-truck United Nations aid convoy resulting in the looting of 97 trucks. Drivers were forced at gunpoint to unload their goods shortly after entering southern Gaza, according to a statement by the UN Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA). “The Israeli authorities continue to disregard their legal obligations under international law to ensure the population’s basic needs are met and to facilitate the safe delivery of aid,” UNRWA said.

The convoy, carrying food provided by UNRWA and the World Food Program, was instructed by Israel to depart at short notice via an unfamiliar route from the Karam Abu Salem crossing, UNRWA’s Senior Emergency Officer Louise Wateridge toldReuters. “This incident highlights the severity of access challenges of bringing aid into southern and central Gaza,” Wateridge said. “Without immediate intervention, severe food shortages are set to worsen, further endangering the lives of over two million people who depend on humanitarian aid to survive.”

The Israeli military has systematically targeted Palestinian police and security forces charged with protecting the convoys. In the latest such attack, on November 17, Israeli forces killed six civilian security officers in Khan Younis, who were working to facilitate aid entry into central Gaza’s warehouses.

A member of a humanitarian organization in Deir al Balah, who spoke to Drop Site on condition of anonymity because they feared for their safety, said that transporting goods in Gaza has become extremely difficult. Trucks are frequently hijacked and organizations often must pay steep extortion fees to gangs for the trucks to pass, they said.

“We are forced to pay excessive amounts to Israeli-backed tribes to ensure the delivery of aid,” they said, adding that the organized groups threaten to loot all or some of the goods in the trucks if payment is not made. “We calculate a significant portion of the funds raised for us just for this procedure. It’s truly crazy,” they said. “I can assure you that some of these militias coordinate with other organizations’ members who are in charge of this whole situation, all directed by the Israeli army.”

A merchant who works in Deir al-Balah said the high extortion fees and other payments are the primary cause of skyrocketing prices for basic goods in Gaza. “Coordinating companies want payments ranging from $40,000 to $80,000. Then it costs us roughly $15,000 to secure the admission of aid from Rafah to Khan Younis. Then a second sum is paid to the hijackers. Then, we must pay a sum of money to local security officers who risk their lives and face other gangs on their route to Deir al-Balah in order to ensure that the truck arrives at our location. This is in addition to spending approximately $40,000 for the goods themselves. That’s why products are so scarce and expensive.”

A group of 29 international NGOs, including Oxfam and Save the Children, said in a report last week that humanitarian aid entering Gaza has fallen to an all-time low. “Looting is an ongoing issue, a consequence of Israel’s targeting of the remaining police forces in Gaza, scarcity of essential goods, lack of routes and closure of most crossing points, and the subsequent desperation of the population amid these dire conditions,” the report said. “According to media reports, Israeli forces are failing to prevent aid trucks from being looted and armed gangs from extorting aid organizations for protection money. In some cases, the remaining members of local police forces tried to take action against the looters but were attacked by Israeli troops. Many incidents are taking place close by or in full view of Israeli forces, without them intervening, even when truck drivers asked for assistance.”

The Israeli humanitarian aid organization Gisha has also made similar claims: “Israel continues to sow conditions of chaos which have contributed to a breakdown in public order that itself obstructs the work of international organizations: A lethal combination of sowing desperation, arming individuals/groups, and targeting civilian police have led to looting and organized crime.”

The recent report in Haaretz found the Israeli military has even taken to calling an area that begins about one kilometer into Gaza after the Karam Abu Salem crossing where most of the attacks on the aid convoys take place “the looting zone.” As Haaretz wrote, the IDF controls the area, “with troops stationed just hundreds of meters, and sometimes less, from the roadblocks the armed men erect on the road.”

A spokesperson for the Internally Displaced Civilians Association in the south who spoke to Drop Site on condition of anonymity out of fear of their safety, said that aid organizations have submitted multiple requests to COGAT to allow aid trucks to use different routes to avoid the gangs. Those requests have been denied.

On Sunday night, thousands of hungry Palestinians stormed over the walls of an UNRWA aid distribution center in Khan Younis only to find it empty because none of the aid had made it there, UNRWA spokesperson Tamara Alrifai told Drop Site. “They thought we had brought food, but it had all been looted,” she said.