Israeli activists ransack aid trucks bound for Gaza (2024)

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 theIsraeli government.

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

The department previously condemned several other attacks on aid convoys byIsraeli activists and called onIsraelto 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.

The United States is aware of reports that a group of American medical workers at the European hospital in Khan Younis are trapped in Gaza, according to a State Department spokesperson.

Patel emphasized that Israel must keep the Rafah crossing open in part so foreign nationals can leave Gaza through there.

Raed Redwan collected water in a little plastic container as rainfall pelted his makeshift tent in Rafah, in southern Gaza.

The teacher and academic, who is displaced with his wife and mother, told CNN he feared potential flooding would drown his two-month-old daughter, Maria. The sound of raindrops can be heard in videos shared with CNN, as Redwan swaddles his newborn baby in a pink and cream blanket.

“I don't know what to do. I can't sleep, the indiscriminate shelling is getting closer to me. I am very afraid and tense,” he told CNN on May 9.

Earlier this month, Israeli forces issued a relocation order to displaced civilians in Rafahahead of a threatened a full-scale ground assault on the city. Redwan – along with more than one million Palestinians displaced in the sprawling city – was caught between staying trapped, or fleeing without the promise of safety.

“I am here alone, it's hard to make a decision to flee. Displacement is very exhausting mentally, physically, and emotionally. There is no safe place in Gaza,” he said. “Rafah is under fire and bombardment.

On Sunday, Redwan said he had made a risky journey further north, to Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza. His young family were forced to sleep on the streets with no water, food or electricity, where they could hear explosions nearby, he added.

At least one United Nations aid worker was killedand another injured after a vehicle marked as belonging to the agency was attacked in Rafah on Monday.

UN personnel were "targeted while traveling in a United Nations vehicle clearly marked with the UN flag and insignias," according to Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the UN Secretary-General. Haq did not assign blame to either Israel or Hamas for the attack.

The death is the first of a UN foreign aid worker since October 7, Haqsaid.

The Jordanian Foreign Ministrylater confirmed the aid worker killed was Jordanian.

The Gaza media office issued a statement blaming Israel for the killing of the UN workers. CNN has asked the Israeli military about the allegations and has yet to hear back.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres's office released a statementcondemning the attack on UN personnel and called for a full investigation.

The Jordanian Foreign Ministrycondemnedthe Monday attack, saying the incident “was a result of Israel's expansion of its military operations in Rafah."

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment.

Jordanian Ministry spokesperson Sufyan Qudah underscored the urgent need to safeguard UN aid workers, whom he called pivotal figures providing humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza.

The spokesperson said that the ministry is actively coordinating with the United Nations to monitor the medical condition of the injured Jordanian citizen and ensure her safe departure from Gaza.

This post has been updated to include comments from the Jordanian Foreign Ministry.

The Israeli military has renewed its fighting in northern Gaza where itpreviously claimedto have dismantled Hamas’ command structure. But it now says the Palestinian militant group is trying to “reassemble” in the area, raising doubts about whether Israel’s goal to eradicate the group in the enclave is realistic.

Israel’s renewed ground operation began on Saturday, with intense shelling and gunfire gripping much of the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza. The Israeli military also began operatingin the area of Zeitoun in central Gaza, as it continues its offensive in eastern Rafah and near the Rafah crossing with Egypt.

Israel’s return to pockets it had supposedly cleared of Hamas renews questions about its long-term military strategy, which after more than seven months of war has left more than35,000 Palestiniansdead and much of Gaza in ruins – but more than 100 hostages from Israel still in captivity and Hamas’ top leadership still at large.

Read the full story:

The Israeli State Comptroller's Office, which is investigating possible intelligence failures prior to the October 7 terror attack by Hamas, has welcomed a Supreme Court decision denying a request by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to delay the inquiry.

The office said it expects "all audited entities to order their people to comply with the duty imposed on them ... and to fully cooperate."

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said on Sunday that he bears "the responsibility for the failure of the IDF to defend our civilians on October 7."

Halevi's remarks came during a speech he delivered at Israel's Memorial Day ceremony held at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

"I carry its weight on my shoulders daily, and in my heart, I fully understand its significance," Halevi said.

The October 7 attack, which prompted Israel to launch its current assault against Hamas, is widely seen as an intelligence failure. Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, the Israeli military intelligence chief, became the first senior military figure to step down over the attacks when he resigned last month.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said that an investigation should take place after the war with Hamas, which has been ongoing for more than seven months.

In a CNN interviewin November, Netanyahu refused to answer whether he would take responsibility for failing to prevent the deadly incursion.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that the Israeli military's actions in Gaza, particularly in Rafah, pose "grave security risks" and a "serious threat to the stability of the region" in a phone call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

More than 1 million Palestinians had fled to Rafah, on Gaza's border with Egypt, seeking shelter from the months-long war in the enclave. Israel has been planning to invade the southern Gaza city despite widespread international concerns over the civilians who would be killed in a full-scale assault.

In his phone call with Blinken, Shoukryreiterated the dire humanitarian consequences that have come from Israeli troops seizing the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing — which sits on the Egyptian border and is a key entry point for aid — as well as the ongoing Israeli attacks. He also emphasized the urgent need to restore aid access to Gaza, according to aread-out of the call released by the Egyptian foreign ministry.

Egypt, a key player in talks between Israel and Hamas, said on Monday it would throw its support behind South Africa's genocide case againstIsraelat the International Court of Justice “in light of the escalating severity and scope ofIsraeli attacks against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.”

Gaza’s Health Ministry said that 57 people were killed in Israeli operations in the most recent 24-hour reporting period. The ministry says 82 people were injured.

Since the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel, 35,091 people have been killed in Gaza, in Israeli attacks pn the enclave, and 78,827 people have been injured, the ministry said.

CNN cannot verify the ministry’s numbers, which do not distinguish between casualties among fighters and civilians. That figure does not include the several thousand people thought to be missing in Gaza since October 7.

The number of civilians killed in Israel's military operation has prompted international condemnation and concern, including among the country's allies.

The United States recently paused the shipment of “high-payload munitions” to the Israeli military as the country's senior officials say they plan to go ahead with a wider-scale operation in the southern city of Rafah.

Israeli forces ramped up attacks in northern and central Gaza, and said it would press ahead with plans for a ground offensive in the southern city of Rafah, worsening a humanitarian catastrophe inside the Palestinian enclave.

Hundreds of thousands of people have now fled Rafah as Israel stands firm it will invade the city. Relief agencies warn an escalation in Israeli attacks would stifle critical efforts to get aid to those who need it even further. Under growing international pressure to allow more aid into the strip, Israel later announced the opening of a new crossing into Gaza in coordination with the US.

But human rights organizations have repeatedly warned that Israel's aid inspections process means relief is barely trickling into the strip, where the entire population of more than 2.2 million people are exposed to the risk of famine.