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.
“We have no flour, no aid, no water, not even toilets,” Abdulrahman al-Kilani told AFP news agency.
“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.”
Meanwhile, phone lines and internet connections are slowly returning after more than a day of almost total communications blackout
Connectivity was cut as Israel intensified its bombardment of Gaza, and began a large ground operation involving tanks and troops
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) say more troops entered the territory overnight, while warplanes attacked more than 450 Hamas targets
Israel has been bombing Gaza since the October 7th Hamas attacks that killed 1,400 people and saw 230 people kidnapped as hostages
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says more than 8,000 people have been killed since Israel’s retaliatory bombing began. Although the Gaza health ministery has published lists of names of the dead together with their ID numbers, President Biden, back in the US, has claimed that the numbers are inaccurate and not in accord with information known to the US.
Souces: BBC, aawsat.com
