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A handful of young people pose for the camera in Gaza with their faces covered. They are all men, some with Kalashnikov rifles and others with wooden batons. On their foreheads they wear a band with the words “Popular Protection Committees”, in the style of the militiamen, but much more rustic, a reflection of the lack of almost everything that the Palestinian Strip experiences. One of them announces the birth of committees to support the Ministry of the Interior of the Hamas Government in Gaza in providing “security and stability” and “controlling excessive prices.” They seek to transmit authority, but they achieve the opposite: about 10 twenty-somethings (at most) to regulate the situation generated by the Israeli decision to overthrow Hamas – the Islamist party-militia that has governed the enclave since 2007 and that launched the October 7 attack. ― and to use humanitarian aid as a weapon of war. That is, malnutrition, half a million people on the brink of famine, assaults on food trucks and a black market that further divides Gazans between those who had money before the war and those who did not.
In this context, with thousands of people fighting to get hold of one of the very scarce shipments of flour for northern Gaza, the Israeli army opened fire on Thursday. More than 100 people died, either from gunshots or crushed by vehicles.
The committees were born this week in the only place they could: Rafah, forcibly home to the majority of the 2.3 million Gazans. It is where something resembling a government authority remains after almost five months of war, as it is the only city that the Israeli army has not yet invaded. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed again on Thursday that the war will not end without his troops entering there. “Let there be no doubt,” despite “increasing international pressures,” he declared at a press conference in Tel Aviv.
The convoy tragedy took place in Gaza City, the capital. It is in the north, where 15.6% of babies (virtually none before the war) under two years of age are severely malnourished. The health authorities of the Hamas Government in Gaza on Thursday put the number of children who have died from malnutrition or dehydration in recent days in hospitals in the area at 10. The Famine Review Committee – made up of international experts in food security and nutrition – has detected among the 400,000 to 500,000 inhabitants of the north at least one of the three indicators of famine. More than 80% of the people in the world in phase five (the most serious in food crises) are, in fact, in Gaza: 576,000 people “one step away from famine,” according to the United Nations humanitarian affairs office. (OCHA, in its acronym in English).
Help with boxes that end up in the sea
Some countries, such as Jordan, France or the United Arab Emirates, have begun to launch – with the green light from Israel – humanitarian aid from the air, but the result has only put honey on the lips of a desperate population. Most of the boxes dropped on Tuesday by Jordanian military aviation ended up in the sea. On social media you could see a crowd in front of the shore, waiting for the waves to bring them closer, or fishermen trying to reach them. A good part of those rescued were already useless. A new attempt, on Thursday, generated even more frustration: the wind displaced the parachutes as they descended and, since Gaza is so narrow (12 kilometers in the widest part between the Mediterranean and the border with Israel), they fell in Israel.
They are trying to do it by air because land has been complicated and dangerous for weeks. Israeli military aircraft have bombed police escorting convoys, which is why officers have recently refused to expose themselves and are reluctant to accompany them, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). The drivers are thus left at the mercy of hungry crowds and mafias who try to raid the goods to resell them on the black market. Some street stalls display products that should be free.
Recent weeks have left images of dozens of Palestinians climbing onto trucks with help or running behind them to catch up. Or people taking bags of flour to their house or tent that never reached their destination. Due to lack of flour, some families in the north are preparing pita bread with the ground feed they gave to the animals.
Two of these incidents led the UN World Food Program last week to announce the cessation of humanitarian aid deliveries to the north: in the first, on February 18, “a multitude of hungry people” made “numerous attempts” to board the convoy on the way to Gaza City. Upon entering the capital, he was even shot. In the second, a day later, a driver was attacked and several trucks with flour were looted before reaching Deir al Balah, still in the center.
In the last three weeks, on average fewer than 100 trucks per day have entered Gaza from Egypt. It is a hundred less than the commitment made by Israel and 400 less than before the war. Israel blames the bottleneck (there is an endless line of trucks in Egypt waiting to pass) on the inefficiency of the UN in achieving their entry and distribution.
In February, 50% less aid was arriving than in January, the head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, denounced on Tuesday on the social network X. “Aid is supposed to increase, not decrease, to respond to the immense needs of two million Palestinians in desperate living conditions. Among the obstacles: lack of political will, frequent closure of border points and lack of security due to military operations, plus the collapse of public order,” he noted. On February 5, in addition, a truck from one of his convoys was attacked on the road by the Israeli naval force, despite having previously coordinated with the army. There were no injuries, but a good part of the wheat flour he was transporting was lost and he had to turn back.
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