Order is beginning to collapse in the besieged Gaza Strip, with thousands of desperate people raiding UN warehouses in search of food, and the international criminal court's top prosecutor saying impeding relief supplies could constitute a crime under the court's jurisdiction.
Wheat, flour and hygiene supplies were taken on Saturday from four UNrun centres across the strip, home to more than 2 million trapped people, said Thomas White, Gaza director for the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
"This is a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down after three weeks of war and a tight siege," White said. "The needs of the communities are immense, if only for basic survival, while the aid we receive is meagre and inconsistent." Basic services in Gaza have crumbled after three weeks of a near-total blockade imposed by Israel, leaving people vulnerable to serious outbreaks of disease as streets overflow with sewage, while food, water and medicine run out.
Yesterday, as phone networks and the internet slowly came back online after a 48-hour communications blackout hit the strip on Friday night, social media posts from Gaza featured tributes to people killed in the fighting, and questions about where to find clean water.
Speaking after a visit to the Rafah crossing, the ICC's top prosecutor, Karim Khan, said the court had active investigations into alleged crimes committed by both sides in the war.
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