Post by ExquisiteGerbil on Jun 22, 2024 3:08:36 GMT -5
UN Secretary-General: Most Gaza Aid Looted amid Lawlessness JOEL B. POLLAK 21 Jun 2024 2:34
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres said Friday that most of the aid entering Gaza is looted, amid a state of lawlessness caused by the war that Hamas started in October.
The Times of Israel reported:
The United Nations chief says that “total lawlessness” and “chaos” in Gaza is preventing the distribution of humanitarian aid within the enclave, which is why an immediate ceasefire is needed.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres tells reporters that “most of the trucks with humanitarian aid inside Gaza are now looted because this is a war that is different from any other one.”
“We have attacks, we have bombings, and then troops move to other places,” he says. “Hamas returns to the original ones and there is total chaos in Gaza, and there is no authority in most of the territory.” He adds that “Israel does not even allow the so-called blue police to escort our convoys because it’s local police linked to the local administration [Hamas], so lawlessness is total.”
Israel has faulted the UN for failing to distribute aid once it is brought into Gaza.
Israel has also estimated in the past that Hamas hijacks 50-60% of the aid trucks that enter Gaza.
Despite the interruptions to aid flows, there is so much aid entering Gaza that the territory has averted famine, with a recent UN report saying that evidence could not be found to substantiate claims of famine in northern Gaza.