Dozens of UN food lorries 'blocked and emptied' by desperate Palestinians
31 May 2025, 17:40
Desperate Palestinians have emptied an estimated 77 aid trucks using 'makeshift road block'.
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An estimated 77 trucks of aid were stopped by hungry Palestinians as they entered into Gaza, the World Food Programme (WFP) has said.
The trucks, which were said to mostly contain flour, were stopped and unloaded before reaching the final destination.
A witness in the southern city of Khan Younis told The Associated Press that thousands of desperate civilians made a makeshift road block to stop the vehicles.
Most people carried bags of flour on their backs or heads. The witness said at one point a forklift was used to offload pallets from the stranded trucks.
The news comes as Hamas agrees to release 10 living hostages and 18 bodies in its response to the US's Gaza ceasefire proposals.
The UN said earlier this month that Israeli authorities have forced them to use unsecure routes within areas controlled by the Israeli military in the eastern areas of Rafah and Khan Younis, where armed gangs are active.
An internal document, shared with aid groups about security incidents, said there were four incidents of facilities being looted in the last three days - not including today's incident, AP reported.
"We need to flood communities with food for the next few days to calm anxieties and rebuild the trust with communities that more food is coming," the WFP said.
The nearly three-month Israeli blockade on Gaza has pushed the population of more than 2 million to the brink of famine.
While pressure slightly eased in recent days as Israel allowed some aid to enter, aid organisations have said far from enough food is getting in.
On Thursday, WFP reported that "hordes of hungry people" have broken into a food supply warehouse in central Gaza.
The programme added that two people are reported to have died and several others injured in the incident.
Footage showed thousands of people breaking into the Al-Ghafari warehouse in Deir Al-Balah and taking bags of flour and cartons of food as gunshots rang out. It was not immediately clear where the gunshots came from or who fired them, according to the BBC.
