World Food Program says aid convoy intercepted in northern Gaza

The World Food Program (WFP) announced that its second attempt in two weeks to deliver food aid to northern Gaza has been thwarted by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

The United Nations agency said the 14-truck convoy was “turned back” at a checkpoint and then looted by a crowd of “desperate people”.

The BBC has contacted the IDF for comment.

The announcement comes a day after the World Health Organization (WHO) said children were starving to death in northern Gaza.

Efforts to “deliver much-needed food” to the region resumed on Tuesday, but had “little success,” WFP said in a statement.

The agency said the convoy waited for three hours at a checkpoint in Wadi Gaza before being turned back by the Israeli Defense Forces.

The truck was then rerouted and “subsequently stopped by a horde of desperate people who looted the food and approximately 200 tonnes were removed from the truck,” WFP said.

The BBC contacted the IDF for comment, but questions were directed to Kogat, the Israeli Ministry of Defense agency tasked with coordinating aid access in Gaza.

It was the first time WFP has delivered supplies to northern Gaza within two weeks.

On February 20, the government agency announced it was suspending food deliveries to the region after the first convoy endured “complete chaos and violence due to the breakdown of social order,” including violent looting.

Last Thursday, more than 100 Palestinians were killed when crowds rushed into a relief convoy operated by a private contractor that was being escorted by Israeli forces west of Gaza City.

Palestinian health officials said Israeli forces opened fire, killing dozens. The Israeli military said most died after being trampled or run over by aid trucks. According to reports, soldiers near the convoy opened fire on people who approached or perceived as a threat.

WFP deputy director-general Karl Skau told Turkey's Anadolu news agency that the risk of such an incident was part of the reason aid was put on hold two weeks ago. .

“Everyone criticized us for pausing, but we did it because we were afraid of what happened two days ago. We are looking at ways to come back.” he said.

Meanwhile, the United States said Tuesday it had partnered with Jordan to airlift 36,000 meals to northern Gaza, the second such joint mission in recent days.

The United Nations has warned that starvation in Gaza is “almost inevitable” without action, and the World Health Organization says children are starving to death in northern Gaza.

Food shortages have killed 10 children, caused “severe malnutrition” and destroyed hospital buildings, the agency's chief said on Monday.

The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry reported on Sunday that at least 15 children had died from malnutrition and dehydration at Kamal Adwan Hospital.

A 16th child died at a hospital in the southern city of Rafah on Sunday, Palestinian state news agency Wafa reported on Monday.

A senior United Nations aid official said last week that at least 576,000 people, a quarter of the population across the Gaza Strip, face catastrophic levels of food insecurity, with one in six children under two in the north suffering from acute malnutrition. He warned me that I was in a state of insanity.

On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden said there was no “excuse” for Israel not to allow more aid into the territory.

IDF spokesman Maj. Gen. Daniel Hagari said Sunday that the IDF is facilitating aid convoys and airlifts to northern Gaza “because we want to bring humanitarian aid to Gazan civilians in need.”

After Hamas militants killed around 1,200 people and left 253 dead in southern Israel on October 7, the Israeli military announced its plan to destroy Hamas, which is banned as a terrorist organization by Israel, Britain, the United States and others. A large-scale air and ground operation was launched to Return to Gaza as a hostage.

Since then, more than 30,600 people have been killed in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Strip's Ministry of Health.