85% of All Gaza Humanitarian Aid Trucks Looted In Recent Days

Photo Credit: Majdi Fathi/TPS-IL

Gazans in central Gaza Strip loot humanitarian aid from trucks on their way to a World Food Organization warehouse in Deir al-Balah on May 18, 2024.

Of the approximately 200 humanitarian aid trucks entering Gaza in recent days, over 170 were robbed, Arab sources in the Gaza Strip told TPS.

The robbers collect transit taxes of $27,000 and sometimes the tax is $50,000 or 50% of the value of the truck’s contents.

These are mainly gangs, but also “militias” that cooperate with Hamas.

TPS-IL has learned that Hamas has granted distribution lines to these groups to ensure that humanitarian aid exclusively reaches Hamas. In return, these gangs receive money, food and vouchers. Hamas also pays these gangs $10,000 a month to maintain checkpoints.

Meanwhile, sacks of flour and rice donated by the West are being sold for $700 and $500 respectively while a pack of cigarettes costs $1,500.

In September, Arab sources told TPS-IL that Hamas was charging $800 for donated tents.

Prof. Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies and a senior fellow at the Misgav Institute for National Security recently told TPS-IL, “The IDF is indeed the only body in the world that can secure aid delivery to Palestinians in Gaza. But to do this, Israel needs military control of the entire Gaza Strip — something the UN strongly opposes.”

According to Michael, the IDF would need to build its own storage facilities in Gaza and ensure forces are present along all routes in order to secure the aid deliveries.

“No organization or political force will agree to step in Gaza before Hamas is removed,” Michael said.

At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 97 remaining hostages, more than 30 have been declared dead. Hamas has also been holding captive two Israeli civilians since 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014.