Chaos spreads while desperate Gazans are waiting for food aid

The limited amount of food that dripped in Gaza after an Israeli blockade was partially lifted, has fueled chaotic scenes while the hunger continues to spread.

Bakeries that distribute food were overwhelmed by crowds and forced to close on Thursday, and armed looters attacked an auxiliary konvooi at night -which caused a firefight with Hamas safety officers who, say witnesses, were then directed by an Israeli drone strike.

The incident in Central Gaza, told to BBC News through eyewitnesses, local journalists and Hamas officials, underlines the deteriorating safety situation in Gaza, where the board collapsed and lawless has spread.

A convoy of 20 trucks, coordinated by the World Food Program (WFP) and wearing flower, was on the way of the Kerem Shalom Crossing to a WFP magazine in the city of Deir al-Balah.

It was accompanied by six Hamas security officers when it was ambushed by five non -created shooters, who shot on the tires of the vehicles and tried to grasp the load.

The Hamas security team involved the attackers in a short firefight, witnesses told BBC News.

Shortly after the collision started, Israeli drones focused on the Hamas unit with four rockets, killing six officers and injured others.

Hamas has issued a statement in which the attack was sentenced as “a horrible massacre” and accused Israel of deliberately aimed at personnel in charge of protecting humanitarian aid.

BBC News has contacted the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment.

A small amount of food is allowed this week to cross Gaza: about 130 trucks that wear help were crossed the border in the last three days, after a blockage of 11 weeks was partially lifted by the IDF.

The UN says that 500 to 600 trucks with supplies per day are needed in Gaza.

International agencies, including the UN and the WFP, have repeatedly warned that the growing uncertainty hinders the delivery of the hard -needed food and medical supplies to the population – whose majority is displaced.

Israel says that the blockade was intended to put pressure on Hamas to release the hostages that are still being held in Gaza. Israel has also accused Hamas of stealing supplies that the group has denied.

The WFP said that 15 of his auxiliary cars were looted at night on Thursday, and that “hunger, despair and fear of whether more food aid is coming, contributes to rising uncertainty”. The organization called on Israel to help guarantee the safe passage of supplies.

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, an agency that supports Palestinian refugees, wrote on X that nobody “surprised”, that the help was plundered because the “people of Gaza were being starved (s) of the basics including water and medicines for more than 11 weeks”.

Earlier on Thursday, angry and hungry Palestinians in Gaza printed in a desperate attempt to obtain bread, but the situation quickly descended in chaos, forcing the distribution to a halt.

It forced most bakeries to suspend operations, referring to a lack of security.

Many residents in Gaza expressed growing frustration about the aid distribution method and criticized the WFP, which supervises food deliveries.

Some called for an immediate shift in spreading baked bread to hand out flour directly at a speed of one bag per family.

The locals claim that spreading flower would enable families to bake at home or in tents – what, they say, would be safer than wait in the crowded auxiliary centers.

Palestinians have told on the spot about the in -depth humanitarian crisis and the collapse of basic services with which people live under the fighting or are forced out of their houses, while the IDF continues to perform his military operations against Hamas.

From a travel camp in Al-Mawasi in South Gaza, Abd Al-Fatah Hussein BBC News told about WhatsApp that the situation is getting worse because of the number of people in the area.

Twee’s father said that there is “no space” in Al-Mawasi, where people who have ordered by the Israeli army to leave their homes are told to go for safety.

“There is no electricity, no food, insufficient portable water and no available medicine,” he said.

“The repeated air strikes, especially at night, contribute to suffering.”

He described the auxiliary cars that came in as a “drop in the ocean of Gaza’s needs”.

When he announced that some stocks would finally be admitted in the strip earlier this week, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that only a “basic amount” could cross.

Humanitarian organizations have warned that the amount of food that has entered in Gaza in recent days does not come close to what is needed to feed the 2.1 million people who live there, while the UN has said that around 500 trucks entered the territory on average every day before the war.

Widespread famine, humanitarian groups have warned, looms over Gaza.

Secretary -General Antonio Guterres of the UN said that 400 trucks had been cleaned up this week to enter Gaza, but the supplies of only 115 were collected. He said that nothing so far “had reached the besieged north”.

While some flour, baby food and medical supplies had been made in Gaza, and some bakeries in the south started to operate again, Guternes said that this amounted to a “teaspoon of help with a stream of help”.

“The supplies – 160,000 pallets, enough to fill nearly 9,000 trucks – waiting,” he added.

Rida, a midwife with charity project Hoop in Deir al-Balah, said that women come to her clinic who suffer from fainting, have sought medical help without eating breakfast.

Many of them only eat one meal a day and continue to exist on cookies with a lot of energy given by the charity, she said.

“Because of malnutrition, they always tell us:” My baby can’t take enough supplement from my chest … My baby will not stop crying … They must always be breastfed, but my chest is empty. ”

Teen Saba Nahed Alnajjar lives in Khan Younis, where the IDF ordered a massive evacuation earlier this week prior to what it said, there would be an unprecedented military operation.

She said that her family has remained in their partially destroyed house.

“An evacuation warrant has been given for our area, but we are not displaced because we can’t go anywhere else,” she said.

“There are not many citizens in the area … The displaced people sleep on the street and there is no food.

“The circumstances are deteriorating and very difficult.”

Speaking about WhatsApp – often the only way to talk to people in Gaza, who are blocked journalists to get through the IDF – she said that the “bombing will continue in a brutal way”.

She and her family have little left, Saba said and added: “We have no food, no flower – no basic needs of life.”