NewsHail
01 Jun 2025
People in Gaza rushed to grab food from aid trucks, says the World Food Programme (WFP). Hunger and fear have led to chaos.
WFP said it brought in 77 trucks filled with flour on Friday night and early Saturday. But all the trucks were stopped by crowds. People took food to feed their families.
WFP spokeswoman Abeer Etefa told the BBC that aid groups let people take the food. This was because it was not safe to wait or move the trucks.
Israel eased an 11-week blockade on May 19. But the UN says aid now covers just 10% of what people need.
Etefa said the people who took food were desperate. They could not wait for food at normal aid spots.
WFP chose new routes for the trucks. These routes are closer to people and away from gangs.
Workers tried to give one bag of flour to each person. But they could not control the crowds.
"After almost 80 days with no aid, starving people won’t let food trucks pass," WFP said.
A UN report says everyone in Gaza faces famine. Etefa said two million people need food badly.
WFP is giving out some food now. But not enough to meet needs or calm the chaos.
Israel says it blocked aid to push Hamas to release hostages. At least 20 hostages are still alive.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said 900 trucks came in last week. But this is only 10% of what is needed each day.
He said on X, "The aid sent now is a joke compared to the suffering."
Israel’s military says the UN is not using aid that is already inside Gaza. On Friday, Israel said many trucks are waiting to be picked up.
Israel’s Cogat office said, "More aid would reach people if the UN collected it from the crossings."
The UN says it has problems giving out food. This includes unsafe roads, wrong routes, long waits, and big crowds.
A new US and Israeli group is also giving out food. Israel started this after saying Hamas was stealing aid. Hamas denies this.
This group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, said it gave out two million meals last week. The BBC could not confirm this.
There were also crowds and chaos at those food sites. The UN does not work with this group. It says the effort breaks aid rules.
Ongoing Airstrikes and Medical Crisis
Israel keeps bombing Gaza. The army said it hit “dozens of terror targets” on Saturday.
Hamas health officials said 60 people died in the last 24 hours. This does not include people in North Gaza. The last hospital there closed Thursday after the army told it to evacuate.
Christos Georgalas, a Greek doctor, worked at Nasser Hospital in the south until May 21. He said most patients were kids. They had shrapnel wounds and were malnourished.
Malnutrition slows healing and causes infections, he said.
Hospital staff only eat rice. He said they are lucky. One doctor lost 26 kilos in recent months.
Some doctors have not been paid for a year. They live in tents and risk their lives to work.
Georgalas said the ICU is full. Doctors must choose who gets help because many need breathing machines.
Tensions Rise Over West Bank Visit
Four Arab nations planned a trip to the West Bank this weekend. They wanted to meet Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
The group included Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. But Israel blocked the visit.
An Israeli official said the visit was to push for a Palestinian state. The current Israeli government does not support that.
Saudi Arabia and France will host a peace talk next month. The goal is to bring back the two-state plan to end the war.
The war began on October 7, 2023. Hamas attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
Since then, over 54,000 people have died in Gaza, says the Hamas-run health ministry. This includes 4,117 since March 18, when Israel stepped up its attacks.
