Israeli security forces 'tipping off settlers who attack aid convoys'

Members of Israel's security forces are tipping off far-right activists and settlers to the location of aid trucks delivering vital supplies to Gaza, enabling the groups to block and vandalise the convoys, according to multiple sources.

- Lorenzo Tondo, Quique Kierszenbaum

Settlers intercepting the vital humanitarian supplies are receiving information about the location of the aid trucks from members of the police and military, a spokesperson from the main Israeli activist group behind the blockades told the Guardian.

The claim is supported by messages in internet chat groups seen by the Guardian as well as accounts from witnesses and human rights activists. Those blocking the vehicles say the aid they carry is being diverted by Hamas, a claim relief agencies reject.

US officials said Israel had offered no evidence to support the claims. Rachel Touitou, a spokesperson for the Israeli group Tzav 9, said the group had been blocking trucks as they made their way through Israel since January on the grounds that the aid they carried was "hijacked" by Hamas once it reached Gaza.

"When a policeman or soldier's mission is supposed to protect Israelis and instead he is sent to protect humanitarian aid convoys knowing it will end up in the hands of Hamas - we cannot blame them or civilians who notice the trucks passing by their towns for providing intel to groups trying to block that aid. Yes, some of our intel comes from individual members of Israeli forces," Touitou added.

Videos last week showed aid convoys blocked and vandalised by Israeli settlers at the Tarqumiya checkpoint, west of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The incident, in which activists threw boxes of supplies to the ground, sparked outrage, with the White House condemning the attack as "completely and utterly unacceptable behaviour".

Photographs from the scene showed piles of damaged aid packages and trails of rice and flour across the road. Photographs later circulated on social media showing the trucks on fire.