The UN World Food Programme (WFP) confirmed desperate crowds raided its Al-Ghafari warehouse in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza, with video showing thousands seizing flour and food supplies amid gunfire that left two dead and dozens injured.
As Israel permitted 121 UN aid trucks into Gaza this week, a controversial US/Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) established parallel distribution centers using private security.
The UN condemned this system as “engineered scarcity,” while Israel claims it prevents Hamas theft—an allegation UN humanitarian chief Jonathan Whittall disputed, blaming instead criminal gangs operating near Kerem Shalom crossing.
The warehouse looting follows Tuesday’s GHF center riot in Rafah that injured 47, with UN officials reporting increasing attacks on aid convoys by desperate civilians.
UN envoy Sigrid Kaag told the Security Council current aid levels resemble “a lifeboat after the ship has sunk,” as 90% of Gazans face acute food insecurity.
Political Feud Over Aid Delivery Intensifies
Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon accused the UN of “mafia-like” behavior for opposing GHF operations, while the UN maintains only its established networks can properly distribute at scale.
With most Gazans now concentrated in the north and aid limited to southern routes, international agencies warn the breakdown of orderly distribution risks full-blown famine unless ceasefire-level aid volumes resume immediately.
