Report: More than Half of Aid Trucks from Egypt to Gaza Looted Sunday

More than half of the aid trucks that entered the Gaza Strip from Egypt via the Rafah crossing on Sunday, during a surge of aid, were looted, according to a Qatari-funded newspaper quoted by the Times of Israel.

The Times of Israel reported:

More than half the Egyptian aid trucks that entered the Gaza Strip on Sunday were looted by unknown actors and their contents later sold in local markets, according to a report in UK-based, Qatari-owned newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

Out of 130 trucks, 73 of them were looted near the Morag Axis, which separates Rafah from Khan Younis and is controlled by the IDF, the report says.

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In an interview with The Times of Israel earlier this week, former US humanitarian envoy David Satterfield said that unlike UN aid which is largely accounted for, assistance from the Red Crescent societies is more susceptible to theft by Hamas and criminal gangs.

Separately, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) posted video of what it said were armed Hamas operatives looting an aid truck last Thursday.

Independent observers said that while there is enough food entering Gaza, there is a threat of hunger, precisely because of Hamas looting.

Israel began a surge of humanitarian aid over the weekend, responding to international pressure. Hamas refuses to end the war by releasing the Israeli hostages it holds — with 20 presumed living and 30 dead.

In the absence of an agreement on a hostage release and ceasefire, the IDF continues to pursue Hamas in northern Gaza, tightening its grip as it advances on the last neighborhoods it has largely left alone in the war.