Armed men escorting aid convoys in Gaza

Armed and masked men from various clans have started guarding aid convoys entering Gaza, according to Arab News on March 20th, and agencies.

Since Hamas’ attack on October 7th, Israel’s offensive has particularly been focused on targeting members of the Islamist organisation, making providing aid to civilians particularly dangerous for anyone linked to the group.

Moreover, delivering aid in the Strip is becoming increasingly difficult, with Israeli forces opening fire on civilian crowds waiting to receive supplies.

On March 13th, an Israeli air strike in southern Gaza killed an UNRWA worker, among five more Palestinians. Regarding the matter, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini stated “Today’s attack on one of the very few remaining UNRWA distribution centres in the Gaza Strip comes as food supplies are running out, hunger is widespread and, in some areas, turning into famine”.

READ: Borrell attacks Israel: Starvation as a “war arm”

However, having run Gaza since 2007, Hamas has gained great popularity in the area, thanks to several social and charity projects. Because of this, numerous clans, civil society groups and factions started taking action to help defend aid convoys.

When interviewed, an anonymous Palestinian officer stated that “Israel’s plan to find some clans to collaborate with its pilot projects of finding an alternative to Hamas didn’t succeed but it also showed that Palestinian resistance factions are the only ones who can run the show, in one way or another”.

An Israeli official, claimed Israel “was open in principle to Palestinians securing areas of the Gaza Strip”, reports Arab News, “but this is more of a day-after (the war) enterprise than something that could be implemented as a policy right now. We would need to be assured that the individuals have no Hamas ties — and certainly that they are not directly or indirectly serving Hamas interests”.

Jamie McGoldrick, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, upon stating that the UN had no ties to the situation, claimed that the organisation has been trying to “get the Blue Police (Palestinian civil police) back on track again. There have been a number of incidents where the blue police have been targeted by Israel, because they regard them as part of the Hamas infrastructure”.

Arab News and agencies