Video: Israeli Settlers Block Aid to Gaza Amid Looming Famine
Occupied Palestine (Quds News Network)- A group of Israeli settlers gathered on Tuesday at the port of Ashdod, about 30 km (18 miles) from the Gaza Strip, in an attempt to block aid from entering the besieged enclave amid warnings of a looming famine.
According to footage published by Israeli media and social media, protesters stood in front of trucks as they exited the port gates.
The settlers noted that their activists were on their way to the Kerem Shalom Crossing, where aid trucks pass inspection before crossing into the Gaza Strip.
The group of settlers, Tzav 9, has previously gathered at the Ashdod Port to block aid trucks from entering Gaza. Former US President Joe Biden imposed sanctions on Tzav 9 last June over attacks on humanitarian aid convoys destined for Gaza.
פעילי ימין הגיעו לנמל אשדוד כדי לחסום משאיות סיוע המיועדות לעזה.
צילום: צו 9 pic.twitter.com/uKxPokPKCz— ישראל היום (@IsraelHayomHeb) May 27, 2025
Reut Ben Haim, chairwoman of Tzav 9, said the renewal of aid to Gaza is a “crime that cannot be ignored.”
According to a survey by Israeli Channel 12, 72% of Israelis oppose sending humanitarian aid to Gaza.
On March 2, Israel announced the closure of Gaza’s main crossings, cutting off food, medical and humanitarian supplies, worsening a humanitarian crisis for 2.3 million Palestinians, according to reports by human rights organisations who have accused it of using starvation as a weapon of war against Palestinains.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report warned that almost a quarter of the civilian population would face catastrophic levels of food insecurity (IPC Phase Five) in the coming months.
However, after about 80 days of total blockade and starvation and widespread international outrage, Israel announced about a week ago it will allow a very limited passage of aid trucks into the enclave through several international organizations until a new US-Israeli aid mechanism begins.
However, the United Nations confirmed that Israel is still blocking food from reaching starving Palestinians with only a few trucks of aid having reached Gaza.
UN secretary general, António Guterres, said on Friday that Israel had only authorised for Gaza what “amounts to a teaspoon of aid when a flood of assistance is required” to ease the crisis.
The limited number of aid trucks allowed into Gaza falls far short of meeting the territory’s vast humanitarian needs and instead serves as a “smokescreen” for Israel to “pretend the siege is over,” according to the medical charity Doctors Without Borders.
Tom Fletcher, the UN’s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, issued a stark warning that 14,000 babies are at risk of dying if humanitarian aid does not reach them—a figure he described as “utterly chilling”.
