Humanitarian aid distribution in Gaza has almost ground to a halt in recent days as desperately hungry Palestinians and criminal gangs loot aid trucks before they can reach their destinations.
More than 450 trucks carrying food and medical supplies are lined up at a holding area on the Gazan side of the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel as aid agencies struggle to enable more than a handful of convoys to travel securely through the besieged strip.
The dire humanitarian situation had already affected law and order, but that worsened after blue-uniformed Palestinian police — nominally distinct from the Hamas militants Israel is battling — stopped operating after months without salaries, and in the face of Israeli air strikes on police stations and cars.