Gaza truckers face danger with delivery of each aid

The truck driver trying to provide assistance inside Gaza says Their work is becoming more and more dangerous In the last few months People were desperately hungry And the violent gangs filled the vacuum of power left by the Hamas rulers of the territory.

The crowd Hungry people tear aid on a daily basis From the back of the moving truck, the local driver said. Some trucks are hijacked by armed men working for gangs Selling aid in the Gaza market at exorbitant prices. They said the Israeli army often falls into chaos.

The driver was killed in the mayhem.

When since March Israel ended the ceasefire in the war with Hamas and halted all importsThe situation has grown More and more miserable On the territory of about 2 million Palestinians. Currently, international experts warn “The Worst Scenario of Hungry” In Gaza.

Last week, Israel announced measures to further aid in Gaza under international pressure. The aid group says it’s not enough yet, but get that amount to those who need it from the border intersection It’s difficult and extremely dangeroussaid the driver.

Driving aid trucks are fatal

Thousands of people packed the roads on Monday as two trucks entered Gaza, southern Gaza, shown by the AP video. The young man overwhelms the truck, standing on the roof of a taxi, hanging from the side, bumping into each other to grab a box despite the truck continuing to drive slowly.

“Some of my drivers are worried about how to unlock themselves from a large number of people, so I’m scared to go to help,” said Abu Khaled Selim, vice president of the Special Transport Association, a nonprofit organization that works with private transport companies on the Gaza Strip and advocates for the rights of truck drivers.

Selim said his nephew, Ashraf Selim, father of eight, was killed on July 29th with a lost bullet when Israeli forces climbed the aid truck he was driving and fired at the crowd.

Shifa Hospital officials said they received his body with a gunshot that was obvious in his head. Israeli forces said they were unaware of the incident and would not carry out a deliberate attack on the aid truck “as a rule.”

Early in the war, delivery of aid was safer. Because as more food entered Gaza, the population was desperate. Hamaslan police have seen them secure convoys and have followed the plunders and merchants who have chased the relocation of aid at exorbitant prices.

Now, “It’s all acceptable because the situation is not protected,” Selim said.

The United Nations said it would not accept protection from Israeli forces and violate the rules of neutrality, and, given the need for urgent assistance, hungry people would accept grabs food from behind trucks unless it was violent.

Gaza’s new aid will ease despair and make things safer for drivers, said Juliette Touma, director of communications at UNRWA, a UN agency of Palestinian refugees.

The risk of drivers is increasing

22-year-old Ali Al Dhabashi was an aid truck driver for over a year and a half, but after his final trip three weeks ago he left because of increased risk, he said. Some of those who are receiving assistance from the truck are currently carrying clefts, knives and shafts, he said.

He was once ambushed and forced to redirect to an area that Israel was designated as a conflict zone in the war with Hamas. There, the fuel and batteries in his truck were all stolen and his tires were shot, he said. He was beaten and his phone was stolen.

“We risk our lives for this. We leave our family for two or three days each time. And we don’t even have water or food ourselves,” he said. In addition to danger, the driver faced humiliation from the Israeli army, he said.

The war began on October 7, 2023, with Hamas-led extremists killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and 251 people. Israel’s retaliation attack More than 61,000 Palestinians have been killedthe latest figures from Gaza’s Health Ministry say they do not distinguish between extremists and civilians, and operate under the Hamas government.

The threat comes from anywhere

Nahed Sheheib, director of the Special Transport Association, said driver dangers come from anywhere. He accused Israel of detaining drivers and using them as human shields. The Israeli military did not comment on the charges. Recently, a man linked to the violent Gaza clan fired and injured a driver, he said, and plundered a fleet of 14 trucks. They later looted a convoy of ten trucks.

Hosni al-Sharafi, who ran a trucking company and was the aid driver himself, said that only drivers without political affiliation are permitted to use drivers that have no political affiliation, and only drivers approved by Israel to transport aid from the intersection are permitted.

Alsharafi said he was detained by Israeli forces for over 10 days last year, transporting aid from the intersection of South Kerem Shalom, and questioned him where the trucks were headed and how aid was distributed. Israeli officials did not comment on the charges.

Some drivers said they were repeatedly shot by armed gangs. Others said their trucks were routinely picked neatly by a wave of hopeless people, many fighting for food while Israeli forces were shooting. Hungry families who missed help throw angry stones on their trucks.

Anas Labair said his aid truck was overwhelmed by the crowd the moment he was pulled out of the Zickim intersection last week.

“Our instructions are to stop because no one wants to run,” he said. “It’s crazy. There are people climbing all over the cargo and climbing up the window. It’s like you’re blind and you can’t get out.”

After the crowd stripped him of everything, he drove hundreds more metres and was stopped by an armed gangster who threatened to shoot him. They searched the truck and he said he had a bag of flour that he had saved for him.

“Every time we go out, we get robbed,” he said. “It’s getting worse every day.”

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Associated Press author Julia Frankel contributed to this report from Sally Abou Aljaud of Jerusalem and Beirut. Mariam Daga was a contribution from Kahn Eunice of the Gaza Strip.