Crowds Loot Trucks Taking Food Into Gaza

Crowds of civilians rushed 77 trucks trying to take food deeper into Gaza on Saturday, stopping them and carrying off the supplies. The food was taken "mainly by hungry people trying to feed their families," the UN World Food Program posted on X. Famine conditions are worsening in Gaza, and a WFP spokeswoman said 2 million people are in "desperate need" of food, the BBC reports. "After 80 days of a total blockade, communities are starving—and they are no longer willing to let food pass them by," the post said, per CNN.

• The seizures: Trucks were stopped in southern and central Gaza. Anticipating that the trucks might not reach their warehouse destinations, the WFP had decided not to resist if crowds ransacked them. Workers asked people to take only one bag of flour each but couldn't enforce that limit, per the BBC.
• Proposal: To prevent more chaos, the organization called for flooding the communities with food, the dpa news agency reports. Israel eased its blockade on May 19, but the UN says the amount of aid sent over the past week on 900 trucks covers just more than 10% of residents' needs. "Only consistent large-scale aid can rebuild trust," the WFP wrote.
• Israel's response: The UN is not distributing aid already in Gaza, the Israeli military agency Cogat says. The foreign ministry said hundreds of trucks are sitting. "More aid would actually get to the people if you would collect the aid waiting for you by the crossings," Cogat posted Friday on X to the UN.

(More Israel-Hamas war stories.)