UN denounces armed group's 'stolen' of 'large quantities' of medical supplies intended for malnourished children in Gaza

A group of armed individuals looted "large quantities" of medical equipment and nutritional treatments that had just arrived at a field hospital in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, on Friday , a UN spokesperson announced.

"Today, a group of armed individuals raided the warehouses of a field hospital in Deir el-Balah, looting large quantities of medical equipment, supplies, medicines, and nutritional supplements intended for malnourished children ," lamented Stéphane Dujarric, before specifying that the goods had arrived on Thursday by truck through the Kerem Shalom border crossing.

"As conditions on the ground continue to deteriorate and public order and security collapse, looting continues," he noted.

However, he highlighted the difference between Friday's incident and Wednesday's looting of a UN World Food Programme (WFP) food warehouse by "hungry" Palestinians desperate for the limited humanitarian aid Israel has allowed into Gaza in recent days, after more than two and a half months of blockade.

" It seemed much more organized and different from the looting we've seen in recent days, especially at the WFP warehouse (...). It was an organized operation, by armed men," he insisted.

Since early last week, Israel has again authorized limited transit of UN trucks through the Kerem Shalom border crossing, but the United Nations has denounced this as "a drop in the ocean" given the needs.

Furthermore, the procedures are complicated, particularly with vehicles that need to be unloaded and reloaded, and access requests that are sometimes denied by the Israeli authorities.

Not to mention the security situation in a territory subjected to Israeli military reprisals since the unprecedented Hamas attack of October 7, 2023.

On Thursday, for example, the UN and its partners "were only able to collect five trucks on the Palestinian side of Kerem Shalom," and another 60 trucks had to return to the border crossing due to hostilities in the area, Dujarric said, while Israel accused the UN of failing to collect available aid.

"It was no longer safe to use the road" that the Israeli army had authorized, he noted, noting that "many armed gangs" operate in the vicinity of Kerem Shalom.

The five trucks that made it through were carrying medical supplies for the Deir el-Balah field hospital, but most of this cargo was looted in Friday's attack, he added.