Two trucks with humanitarian aid bound for Gaza set on fire in the West Bank

One of the aid trucks that was set on fire, near the Tarqumiyah border crossing in the West Bank, on 13 May 2024

Eden Solomon, Josh Breiner and Bar Peleg report in Haaretz on 14 May 2024:

Two trucks carrying humanitarian aid set to be delivered to residents of the Gaza Strip were set on fire Monday evening at the Tarqumiyah border crossing, near Hebron in the West Bank.

The trucks were part of a convoy that was blocked and looted by Israeli right-wing activists earlier in the day. Police officers who arrived at the scene arrested four people, and then left. A few hours later, the activists returned and set fire to the trucks.

Israeli police and the IDF blamed each other for the incident. Police say that it was the army’s responsibility to guard the trucks after the activists initially dispersed, while the army claims that since the trucks and the activists were Israeli, and the incident took place on Israeli territory, the responsibility lies with the police.

The Coordinator of Government Operations in the Territories (COGAT), which is responsible for supervising the transfer of aid into Gaza, said in response that “regarding the security of the trucks and the dispersal of the demonstration at the location – you should contact the law enforcement officials who are in charge of the issue.” COGAT refused to answer whether or not police was included in coordinating enforcement in this case.

A senior security official who spoke to Haaretz blamed police for allowing the incident to take place. “Police turn a blind eye to disturbances of order by lawbreakers, who vandalize and burn aid with the help of inside information about the trucks’ movement.”

“There are those in police who avoid handling and preventing such disturbances of order, and even when they do, they do it with a demonstrable lack of desire. There is a feeling that they are trying to please someone specific in the government,” he said.

Israeli right-wing activists destroy humanitarian aid on trucks at the Tarqumiyah border crossing in the West Bank, on 13 May 2024

Around noon, two left-wing activists who support the transfer of aid into Gaza documented the destruction of the food on the trucks. “We did not intend to come to confront [the right-wing activists], but to document,” said one, Sapir Slutzker-Amran, who came with fellow activist Neta Hamami.

Slutzker-Amran says that when they arrived at the Tarqumiyah border crossing they encountered a group of about 20 people – both settlers from the area and activists from Tzav 9 – a group of mostly far-right religious Jewish Israelis who have vowed to block aid going into Gaza until all hostages are released. According to her, the right-wing activists blocked the trucks with their cars, climbed on top of them and threw the food on the ground.

At one point, according to Slutzker-Amran and Hamami, the rioters received a tip that there were trucks at another location and drove away, so the two of them started helping the drivers put the goods back in the trucks. However, after about an hour, “they came back en masse,” and were able to destroy a lot more of the aid.

Slutzker-Amran and Hamami say that there were very few police forces at the location, and that the officers did not protect them when the rioters attacked them. “We came back with bruises and scratches,” Slutzker-Amran says.

German Ambassador to Israel Steffen Seibert referred to the incident, calling “disgraceful”. He added that it “certainly won’t help the Israeli cause of freeing the hostages and securing the country against the terror of Hamas.”

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