by Baruch Yedid and Anna Epshtein
Gaza’s Hamas-run Interior Ministry executed at least 20 Palestinians for looting trucks with humanitarian aid in recent clashes with criminal gangs, The Press Service of Israel has learned.
Hamas sees these gangs as rivals in controlling the aid arriving in the Strip.
Recent days in Gaza have seen dozens of trucks with humanitarian aid looted before reaching their intended recipients. Sources in Gaza said that “at least 168 trucks” have been looted in separate incidents in recent days.
In the most noteworthy attack, a convoy of 109 trucks was attacked on November 16, with 98 trucks’ worth of aid being lost.
While Hamas still controls much of the food, water and humanitarian supplies arriving in Gaza, other criminal gangs have been challenging the terror group’s authority.
A local source said that the armed gang members charge “royalties” ranging from $20,000 to $50,000 in exchange for allowing aid convoys or merchant-carrying trucks to pass. If the amount is not paid, they proceed to forcibly steal the trucks. The gangs mostly find shelter in the southern Gaza areas of Rafah and Khan Younis.
Hamas this week established a new police unit called “Sahm” (“Arrow” in Arabic) to “monitor market prices and strengthen civilian governing capabilities.” The terrorist organization recruited dozens of young people to the new unit, mainly in exchange for securing food for their families.
Sources in Gaza say the new unit’s officers are responsible for executing thieves and food profiteers. Recently, these police officers shot at residents who looted food near refugee camps in central Gaza and even set up surprise checkpoints and ambushes.
Hamas operatives however still loot the aid trucks with impunity.
The Hamas unit has taken responsibility for killing at least 20 people in recent clashes over stolen trucks, releasing an official media statement.
“This new police unit operates alongside ‘popular committees‘ and clan representatives to secure food convoys, but in practice, it is responsible for taking control of trucks arriving mainly from southern Gaza, from Kerem Shalom crossing,” an Arab source in Gaza told TPS IL.
A UN memo obtained by The Washington Post said that criminal looting has become the greatest impediment to distributing aid in the southern half of Gaza.
The memo also blamed the Israel Defense Forces for not securing the aid deliveries, saying that the criminal gangs “may be benefiting from a passive if not active benevolence” or “protection” from the military.
The military denied the allegations, saying that its troops have carried out “targeted countermeasures” against the looters “with an emphasis on targeting the terrorists and preventing collateral damage to the aid trucks and the elements of the international community.”
Israel’s Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) — which coordinates civilian issues between the Israeli government, military, international community and the Palestinian Authority in Gaza — declined TPS-IL’s requests for comment.
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 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.
By taxing and diverting humanitarian aid and distributing food vouchers, Hamas continues paying salaries to its gunmen. Local sources say Hamas was charging $800 for donated tents.
At least 1,200 people were killed, and 251 Israelis and foreign nationals were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 101 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.
