Gangs attacking relief trucks in Gaza tipped off by Israeli police, soldiers: Report

Individual Israeli security officials are tipping off far-right extremists and settlers to the location of aid trucks delivering vital supplies to Gaza, thereby allowing the groups to obstruct and vandalise the convoys, The Guardian reported citing multiple sources.

A spokesperson from the main Israeli activist group behind the blockades told the publication that the Israeli police and military are providing information about the position of the aid trucks to settlers who are intercepting crucial humanitarian supplies from reaching the strip.

The publication also stated that it reviewed messages from internal internet chat groups and accounts from a number of witnesses and human rights activists which support the claim of collusion by members of the security forces.

Relief agencies reject the accusations made by those obstructing the vehicles, who believe that Hamas is diverting the aid they are carrying instead of being delivered to civilians. US officials said that Israel has not provided any evidence to back up allegations that Hamas is diverting aid.

A spokesperson for the Israeli group Tzav 9, Rachel Touitou said that the group had been blocking trucks through Israel since January, on the grounds that the aid they carried was “hijacked” by Hamas upon reaching Gaza.

Touitou added said, “When a policeman or soldier’s mission is supposed to protect Israelis and instead he is sent to protect humanitarian aid convoys – knowing it will end up in the hands of Hamas – we cannot blame them or civilians who notice the trucks passing by their towns for providing intel to groups trying to block that aid. Yes, some of our intel comes from individual members of Israeli forces.”

Touitou further stated that it was not Tzav 9 that burned the trucks pressing upon the fact that other groups were responsible for the arson attack.

The settlers claim that the trucks are being blocked by them in order to stop supplies from reaching Hamas and accuse the Israeli government of giving “gifts” to the Islamist group, the publication mentioned.

Touitou further stated that their purpose is to highlight that feeding the enemy, which in this case is Hamas, especially during war time is immoral.

Without expecting anything in return, Israel has been delivering humanitarian aid, and 80 per cent of the population agrees to this, he added. He further stated that the aid which was meant to be free is being resold by Hamas to the civilians.

Palestinian lorry drivers delivering aid to Gaza, told the publication that after their vehicles came under attack, the Israeli soldiers escorting the convoy did nothing to intervene.

A 26-year-old Palestinian lorry driver, Yazid al-Zoubi, who was attacked by the protesters last week at Tarqumiya checkpoint, said that there was complete cooperation between the settlers and the army, and were shocked to see that the army did not provide them any kind of protection.

A female reserve fighter was told to carry out a task of maintaining order in an area that was defined as a closed military area and she refused to do it, an IDF spokesperson said. As a result, the fighter was convicted of the crime of refusing an order, the spokesperson added.

Stating that they have received the information from the Israeli police and military, these settlers and the far-right activists inform their members in advance about the timings and location of the aid trucks that head to Gaza.

An Israeli human rights lawyer, Sapir Sluzker Amran, who last week visited the Tarqumiya checkpoint for documenting the settlers’ actions and to prevent the aid from being looted, said that she was beaten by a settler and the Israeli security forces did not do anything to stop the assault.

On the allegations that the members of the security forces were helping those blocking aid deliveries, The Israeli police and Cogat, an Israeli defence ministry agency, declined to comment.

The head of the IDF’s international press department , Nir Dinar, issued a statement, rejecting the allegations. He stated that the allegations were baseless and that he was hearing them for the first time. Dinar further added that the police were investigating the incidents relating to the blocking, vandalisation of the convoys. He also mentioned that the IDF is working to prevent such incidents.

Itamar Ben-Gvirm, the far-right national security minister stated that the government should themselves be stopping aid trucks to Gaza instead of leaving it to groups of activists.

“We are in a democratic country and I am in favour of freedom of protest. They are allowed to demonstrate,” he said in an interview with Army Radio. “I am against them attacking and burning trucks … It’s the cabinet that should be stopping the trucks,” he added.