Hundreds of starving Palestinians storm Gaza food warehouse in deadly incident, says UN agency
A hungry crowd of Palestinians broke into a United Nations warehouse in central Gaza on Wednesday, resulting in at least two deaths and multiple injuries as famine conditions worsen in the Strip.
“Hordes of hungry people broke into the WFP’s Al-Ghafari warehouse in Deir Al-Balah, Central Gaza, in search of food supplies that had been pre-positioned for distribution,” the World Food Programme (WFP) said. “Initial reports indicate two people died and several were injured in the tragic incident.”
It is unclear what caused the deaths and injuries. WFP said it is working to verify the exact circumstances, but emphasized the tragedy reflects “alarming and deteriorating conditions on the ground” directly linked to the aid blockade.
Several videos and photos seen by CNN show hundreds of people inside the warehouse, grabbing whatever food items they can find. A man with a bloodied face is seen in a photo as he clutches a bag of flour.
Another video showed hundreds of people outside the warehouse, carrying bags of what appears to be flour, as gunfire echoed in the background.
The incident at the WFP warehouse underscored the accelerating humanitarian disaster in the besieged enclave. An 11-week Israeli blockade on humanitarian aid has pushed Gaza’s population, of more than 2 million Palestinians, towards famine, with the first resumption of humanitarian aid trickling into the besieged enclave last week.
“Humanitarian needs have spiraled out of control after 80 days of complete blockade of all food assistance and other aid into Gaza,” stated the United Nations agency.
The warehouse contained vital stocks, including flour intended for systematic aid distribution, now compromised by the desperate act.
“WFP has consistently warned of alarming and deteriorating conditions on the ground and the risks imposed by limiting humanitarian aid to hungry people in desperate need of assistance,” it said.
“Gaza needs an immediate scale-up of food assistance. This is the only way to reassure people that they will not starve,” it added.
Palestinians carry bags of flour after storming a UN World Food Program warehouse in Central Gaza on May 28.
Abdel Kareem Hana/AP
UNRWA Public Information Office in Gaza called it an “unfortunate incident” at the WFP warehouse, saying, “Sadly, once again, people are being forced to take desperate measures as a result of the ongoing Israeli blockade on the entry of food and supplies into the Gaza Strip.”
Wednesday’s looting comes a day after chaos broke out at an aid distribution site in Gaza run by a controversial US-backed group as thousands of desperate Palestinians rushed to receive food supplies, with Israeli troops firing warning shots into the air and the US contractors overseeing the site briefly withdrawing.
Videos from the distribution site in Tel al-Sultan, run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), showed large crowds rushing the facilities, tearing down some of the fencing and appearing to climb over barriers designed to control the flow of the crowd.
Palestinian health officials said one person had been shot dead and 48 wounded during Tuesday’s incident.
A security source said American security contractors on the ground did not fire any shots and that operations would resume at the site on Wednesday. The Israel Defense Forces said their troops fired warning shots in the area outside the compound and that the situation was brought under control. They denied carrying out aerial fire toward the site.
‘The smell of death hasn’t left us for 600 days’
Wednesday marks 600 days of Israel’s war against Hamas following the deadly October 7 attacks and the military operations show no signs of abating despite rising international condemnation, including from many of Israel allies.
Speaking to CNN from Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, Abu Amr said that “600 days went by us like 600 years.” The Palestinian man said that civilians fear death by either Israeli strikes or hunger, as limited aid trickles into the enclave.
“Hunger is killing us,” Abu Amr said, calling on the US to end its backing of Israel and broker an end to the war. “We call on America, we call on all Western countries to stand with us,” he said.
More than 54,000 Gazans have been killed since Israel’s war in the enclave began 600 days ago, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and militants.
A two-month ceasefire in Gaza that began in late January collapsed on March 18 as Israel renewed its bombardment. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Israeli strikes have killed more than 3,900 Palestinians since then.
Aziz El-Kahnoot, another displaced Palestinian living in Deir al-Balah, said: “The smell of death hasn’t left us for 600 days,” adding that civilians in Gaza are held “hostage” as the war rages on.
Israel plans to occupy 75% of Gaza within two months as part of its new offensive in the besieged territory, an Israeli military official told CNN earlier this week.
If carried out, the plans would force more than two million Palestinians into a quarter of the already decimated coastal enclave, surrounded on nearly all sides by Israeli forces. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier this month the entire population would be displaced to southern Gaza.
Sigrid Kaag, interim UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said on Wednesday that the crisis in Gaza has plunged civilians into “an abyss” and called on Israel to “halt its devastating strikes on civilian life and infrastructure.”
“The entire population of Gaza is facing the risk of famine,” Kaag warned during a briefing, adding that the limited aid permitted into the enclave is “comparable to a lifeboat after the ship has sunk.
CNN’s Mohammad Al-Sawalhi, Kareem Khadder, and Nadeen Ebrahim contributed reporting.
Source: CNN
‘We are living in a war’: Mexicans brace for violence ahead of judicial elections
Mexico City CNN —
Gadi Mokotov makes cars bulletproof. Living in Mexico City, he sees all sorts of demands for armored vehicles – from military trucks and secretive government vehicles to the Cadillacs of the capital’s high rollers and even 10-year-old Hondas.
As criminal violence ticks up across the country, the lines for his services have grown longer – and more of his customized cars are coming back for repairs with bullet pocks and shattered windows.
“We are living in a war,” he told CNN. “A war with the cartels.”
Despite the efforts of successive governments to combat Mexico’s deeply entrenched cartels, tens of thousands of people are killed each year in crime-related deaths, according to government figures. Recently, Mokotov says one of his private clients in Guadalajara brought their Ford pick-up truck back to his shop with over 100 bullet marks, breaking down into tears, thankful to have survived an ambush.
In years past, Mexico City was seen as a relatively peaceful oasis in the country. But even here, violence is spiking, with murders up over 150 percent compared to the same period last year, according to reporting by El Pais.
Some attacks appear to be designed to send a message to Mexico’s political class. Last week, two aides to the mayor of Mexico City were gunned down on their way to work, in what authorities concluded was a “direct and highly planned attack.” A few days earlier, a mayoral candidate in the state of Veracruz had been shot and killed alongside three other people during a festive campaign march.
As controversial national judicial elections approach on Sunday, some Mexicans across the country are preparing for the worst.
According to Mexican think tank Laboratorio Electoral, last year’s legislative elections were the most violent on record, with over 40 candidates assassinated and hundreds more violent incidents, including attacks and kidnappings, largely attributed to cartels aiming to sway the vote and intimidate candidates.
While the run-up to this year’s judicial vote has not been quite as bloody, a climate of fear persists. Across the country, at least four candidates have already abandoned their campaigns after receiving threats, per the international conflict research organization Crisis Group, and several judges have refused to campaign at all in areas controlled by cartels. Since 2012, at least 17 judges and six clerks have been killed in connection to their work, the group notes.
Cars being reinforced with armor by Gadi Mokotov”s company ETTS Blindajes in Mexico City.
Evelio Contreras/CNN
A controversial vote
One of the last acts of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in 2024 was to pass a constitutional reform mandating that all judges in the country be elected by direct vote – a radical shift from the system of internal appointments that had populated most of Mexico’s judiciary until then.
The vote – seen by supporters as an effort to guarantee judges’ autonomy and impartiality – has been embraced by Lopez Obrador’s successor and protege, President Claudia Sheinbaum. On Sunday, June 1, thousands of candidates will be competing for the 881 seats up for grabs.
César Gutiérrez Priego, a criminal lawyer in Mexico City running for a seat on the country’s Supreme Court, told CNN he’s been campaigning this spring with a bulletproof vest under his suit.
César Gutiérrez Priego at home in Mexico City.
Evelio Contreras/CNN
Priego”s protective vest, which he”s worn everyday under his clothes as he campaigns for a seat on Mexico”s Supreme Court.
Evelio Contreras/CNN
“It doesn’t smell very good. But it’s something that I needed to do because I have to protect myself. I have two kids and I don’t want to just be another number,” he says of the vest, which he’s been wearing for two months on the campaign trail.
Priego is no stranger to the potential for violence and corruption in Mexican politics – he decided to study law when he was in his 20s, after seeing his high-ranking military father, Mexico’s then-drug czar, imprisoned on what he says were false charges.
Across the country, trust in the justice system has been broken over and over. Judges are widely perceived as among the most corrupt officials in the country, and many high-profile cases have never been concluded. In 2022, just 16 percent of criminal investigations overall were resolved, according to Human Rights Watch.
Critics argue that addressing these issues requires far more profound change – including repressing organized crime and addressing corruption at the prosecutorial level and in government – than this week’s judicial vote can address.
Both the Biden and Trump administrations in the US have warned against the judicial vote, voicing concern that making judges run for election could further expose them to political interests and to potential corruption or intimidation by organized crime groups.
Still, Priego says he’s willing to try the new system – and to face the personal risk to his own life – for a shot at a seat on the highest bench in the country.
“In Mexico, we have a big trouble here in our country. And what is that trouble? It’s that criminals take control of some places, some institutions, and one of those institutions is the justice system. And I believe if we change that, we can make the change that really helps people, because if you make the criminals go to jail, you can end impunity,” Priego tells CNN.
Ending impunity, everyone agrees, is long overdue in the country – though not everyone agrees on how to get there.
In his Mexico City garage, Mokotov sees daily evidence of the crisis, including a fast-growing number of first-time clients asking for his services: women looking to add bulletproof armor to humble commuter cars.
It’s a request that leaves even him a bit disturbed, he says. “It’s not nice to see moms coming here saying ‘I need to protect my kids to go to school.’ They’re afraid for the lives of their kids.”
Source: CNN