Hundreds of Gazans crowded next to a bakery in Nuseirat Camp in the central Gaza Strip on Friday, attempting to access bread after limited quantities of flour arrived in recent aid distributions, according to social media posts.
Footage on X/ Twitter showed frantic pushing and shoving as the individuals in the crowd tried to catch plastic bags full of bread that were thrown over a wall or handed through a small hatch.
تدافع للحصول على الخبز في مخيم النصيرات وسط قطاع غزة بعد وصول كميات محدودة من الطحين pic.twitter.com/WVtBUhK0lN
— ابومالك (@AbouMalek163) May 23, 2025
Aid re-enters Gaza after 11-week blockade
These videos follow Israel allowing limited aid deliveries to resume this week after having stopped all aid deliveries to Gaza on March 2.
100 trucks carrying humanitarian aid from the UN and the international community, including flour, baby food, and medical equipment, were transferred on Wednesday through the Kerem Shalom Crossing into Gaza after Israel lifted an 11-week blockade and began allowing limited deliveries into the enclave via the crossing.
The IDF cleared more than 120 trucks carrying food aid for distribution in Gaza in recent days, but there is an ongoing debate regarding how much of it is getting to Gazan civilians.
The UN reported on Wednesday that it had been unable to unload and distribute any humanitarian aid in Gaza due to insecurity in the area and the risk of looting.
"So far … none of the supplies have been able to leave the Kerem Shalom loading area," said UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on Wednesday, adding that it was because Israeli authorities had only allowed access within Gaza "that we felt was insecure" and where looting was likely due to the prolonged deprivation.
Some looting has occured
Aid distribution has been hampered by looting by groups of men, some of them armed, near the city of Khan Younis, an umbrella network representing Palestinian aid groups said, according to Reuters.
"They stole food meant for children and families suffering from severe hunger," the network said in a statement, which also condemned Israeli airstrikes on security teams protecting the trucks.
The UN World Food Programme said 15 trucks carrying flour to WFP-supported bakeries had been looted, which it said reflected the dire conditions facing Gazans.
"Hunger, desperation, and anxiety over whether more food aid is coming is contributing to rising insecurity," it said in a statement.
At least 500 to 600 trucks of aid are needed every day, Reuters quotes the UN as saying.
International officials call for an increase in aid delivery
The arrival of aid trucks into Gaza was "far too little, too late, and too slow," a spokesperson for the German government said on Friday, adding that now the focus must be on increasing the flow of aid and ensuring supplies reach the people.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters on Friday that the current level of aid authorized by Israel to enter the Gaza Strip "amounts to a teaspoon of aid when a flood of assistance is required."
"Without rapid, reliable, safe, and sustained aid access, more people will die – and the long-term consequences on the entire population will be profound," the Secretary-General added.
The UN has said that it will not take part in a new US-backed aid distribution plan that will be run through the newly created Gaza Humanitarian Foundation by the end of May. The UN and other bodies have criticized the new plan for being neither impartial nor neutral and will force further displacement of Gazans.
