- Palestinians broke into UN-run aid facilities on Saturday, taking basic food and medical supplies.
- The incidents prompted the UN agency to warn that civil order is starting to break down in Gaza.
Thousands of Palestinians have broken into several United Nations-run aid centers in search of basic survival items, prompting the organization to warn that civil order in the area was starting to break down.
Flour, hygiene products, and other basic supplies were taken from depots in the middle and southern areas of the Gaza strip, the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said Sunday.
One of the facilities that was stormed in Deir al-Balah holds aid being delivered via the Rafah border crossing.
"This is a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down after three weeks of war and a tight siege on Gaza," said Thomas White, the agency's Gaza director.
More than 7,000 Palestinians have been killed and 1.4 million displaced in Gaza, per reports by The Associated Press, as Israel bombs the region in retaliation for the Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7 that killed more than 1,400 people in southern Israel.
Basic services in Gaza have crumbled as the conflict continues, leaving Palestinians facing water shortages, limited electricity, and communications blackouts.
"Supplies on the market are running out, while the humanitarian aid coming into the Gaza Strip on trucks from Egypt is insufficient," said White.
"The needs of the communities are immense, if only for basic survival, while the aid we receive is meager and inconsistent," he added.
Around 84 aid trucks carrying food, water, and medicine have entered Gaza since the Rafah crossing was opened on October 21, according to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Before the conflict, about 500 trucks entered the Gaza Strip every day to deliver supplies, per Reuters.
The US, Israel, Egypt, and the UN remain in negotiations over creating a more sustainable aid delivery system for Gaza.
Col Elad Goren, an Israeli official who oversees civilian operations in the occupied Palestinian territories, said that a "dramatic increase" in aid to Gaza was being coordinated, per The Guardian.
Israel is not allowing any fuel to enter the territory out of fears Hamas will divert it for military uses and to power generators that ventilate the networks of tunnels used by its fighters.