May 13, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

A shipment of humanitarian aid bound for Gaza was intercepted and ransacked by Israeli activists opposed to sending help to Palestinians living in the besieged enclave.

Video from the Tarkumiya checkpoint near Hebron in the West Bank, through which the convoy was traveling, shows at least two trucks ransacked, with sacks and boxes of food strewn across the road.

It’s unclear whether the aid was coming from Jordan or the Palestinian Authority.

The Regavim movement, which opposes the transfer of aid to Gaza, said: “We will not be the ‘silver platter’ of the Palestinian Authority.”

It added: “Unfathomable to the mind and heart, that precisely on the day of Remembrance Day for the fallen soldiers of Israel’s battles and the victims of hostilities, the Israeli government opens a supply route from the Palestinian Authority in Hebron to the Hamas terrorists in Gaza.”

Regavim and activists from another group, Tsav 9, were involved in the disruption of the convoy.

Israeli police said they have since opened an investigation and arrested several activists over the interception.

The US raised the incident with the Israeli government.

“We have raised this incident with the government of Israel and we expect them to take appropriate action,” he added.

The department previously condemned several other attacks on aid convoys by Israeli activists and called on Israel to hold the alleged perpetrators accountable.

Palestinians caught in the middle of the war between Israel and Hamas have been struggling to get enough food and water to survive. Northern Gaza is now in the middle of a “full-blown famine,” according to the World Food Programme.

Half the population of Gaza is projected to face catastrophic hunger by mid-July, with all 2.2 million people unable to meet their food needs, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.

This post has been updated to include a response from the Israeli police and the US State Department.