Israel halts aid into Gaza, official says, as clans deny Hamas is stealing it
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Palestinians gathering to receive aid supplies in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on June 26.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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CAIRO/TEL AVIV - Israel has halted aid supplies to Gaza for two days to prevent them from being seized by Hamas, an official said on June 26, after images circulated of masked men on aid trucks, who clan leaders said were protecting the aid, not diverting it to the militants.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer later told reporters that aid was still entering Gaza from the south but did not specify whether any supplies were entering the north.
A United Nations source said that all aid that was due to enter northern Gaza had been put on hold.
Lorries carrying aid supplies often enter Gaza in the evening.
Reuters could not immediately confirm if that would happen on June 26 and 27.
A representative for the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a joint statement with Defence Minister Israel Katz, said late on June 25 that he had ordered the military to present a plan within two days to prevent Hamas from taking control of aid.
They cited new information indicating that Hamas was seizing aid intended for civilians in northern Gaza.
A video circulating on June 25 showed dozens of masked men, some armed with rifles but most carrying sticks, riding on aid trucks.
An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that aid deliveries had been temporarily suspended for two days to allow the military time to develop a new plan.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli prime minister’s office, the Defence Ministry or the Israeli military.
The Higher Commission for Tribal Affairs, which represents influential clans in the territory, said that trucks had been protected as part of an aid security process managed “solely through tribal efforts”.
The commission said that no Palestinian faction – a reference to Hamas – had taken part in the process.
Hamas, the militant group that has ruled Gaza for more than two decades but now controls only parts of the territory after nearly two years of war with Israel, denied any involvement.
Throughout the war, numerous clans, civil society groups and factions – including Hamas’ secular political rival Fatah – have stepped in to help provide security for the aid convoys.
Clans made up of extended families connected through blood and marriage have long been a fundamental part of Gazan society.
Acute shortage
Mr Amjad al-Shawa, director of an umbrella body for Palestinian non-governmental organisations, said the aid protected by clans on June 25 was being distributed to vulnerable families.
There is an acute shortage of food and other basic supplies after the nearly two-year military campaign by Israel that has displaced most of Gaza’s two million inhabitants.
Aid trucks and warehouses storing supplies have often been looted
Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid for its own fighters or to sell to finance its operations, an accusation Hamas denies.
“The clans came... to form a stance to prevent the aggressors and the thieves from stealing the food that belongs to our people,” said Mr Abu Salman Al Moghani, a representative of Gazan clans, referring to June 25’s operation.
The June 25 video was shared on social media platform X by former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who claimed that Hamas had taken control of aid allowed into Gaza by the Israeli government.
Mr Bennett is widely seen as the most viable challenger to Mr Netanyahu at the next election.
Mr Netanyahu has also faced pressure from within his right-wing coalition, with some hardline members threatening to quit over ceasefire negotiations and the delivery of humanitarian aid.
The war began when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel
In response, Israel launched a military campaign that has killed more than 56,000 people, the majority of them civilians, according to local health authorities in Gaza.
At least 118 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire since June 25, the local health authorities said, including some shot near an aid distribution point, the latest in a series of such incidents.
Twenty hostages remain in captivity in Gaza, while Hamas is also holding the bodies of 30 who have died. REUTERS
