Report shows Canadian-made military equipment, including bullets, were exported to Israel
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Winnipeg Free Press
20 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Gaza aid truck drivers face increasing danger from desperate crowds and armed gangs
Truck drivers trying to deliver aid inside Gaza say their work has become increasingly dangerous in recent months as people have grown desperately hungry and violent gangs have filled a power vacuum left by the territory's Hamas rulers. Crowds of hungry people routinely rip aid off the backs of moving trucks, the local drivers said. Some trucks are hijacked by armed men working for gangs who sell the aid in Gaza's markets for exorbitant prices. Israeli troops often shoot into the chaos, they said. Drivers have been killed in the mayhem. Since March, when Israel ended a ceasefire in its war with Hamas and halted all imports, the situation has grown increasingly dire in the territory of some 2 million Palestinians. International experts are now warning of a 'worst-case scenario of famine' in Gaza. Under heavy international pressure, Israel last week announced measures to let more aid into Gaza. Though aid groups say it's still not enough, getting even that amount from the border crossings to the people who need it is difficult and extremely dangerous, the drivers said. Driving aid trucks can be deadly Thousands of people packed around the road Monday as two trucks entered southern Gaza, AP video showed. Young men overwhelmed the trucks, standing on the cabs' roofs, dangling from the sides and clambering over each other onto the truck beds to grab boxes even as the trucks slowly kept driving. 'Some of my drivers are scared to go transfer aid because they're concerned about how they'll untangle themselves from large crowds of people,' said Abu Khaled Selim, vice president of the Special Transport Association, a nonprofit group that works with private transportation companies across the Gaza Strip and advocates for truck drivers' rights. Selim said his nephew, Ashraf Selim, a father of eight, was killed July 29 by a stray bullet when Israeli forces opened fire on crowds climbing onto the aid truck he was driving. Shifa Hospital officials said they received his body with an apparent gunshot to the head. The Israeli military said it was unaware of the incident and that 'as a rule' it does not carry out deliberate attacks on aid trucks. Earlier in the war, aid deliveries were safer because, with more food getting into Gaza, the population was less desperate. Hamas-run police had been seen securing convoys and went after suspected looters and merchants who resold aid at exorbitant prices, Now, 'with the situation unsecured, everything is permissible,' said Selim, who appealed for protection so the aid trucks could reach warehouses. The U.N. does not accept protection from Israeli forces, saying it would violate its rules of neutrality, and said that given the urgent need for aid it would accept that hungry people were going to grab food off the back of the trucks as long as they weren't violent. Flooding Gaza with renewed aid would ease the desperation and make things safer for the drivers, said Juliette Touma, communications director at UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees. The danger for drivers is growing Ali al-Derbashi, 22, was an aid truck driver for more than a year and a half, but he quit after his last trip three weeks ago because of the increasing danger, he said. Some people taking aid off the trucks are now carrying cleavers, knives and axes, he said. He was once ambushed and forcibly redirected to an area designated by Israel as a conflict zone in its war against Hamas. There everything was stolen, including his truck's fuel and batteries, and his tires were shot out, he said. He was beaten and his phone was stolen. 'We put our lives in danger for this. We leave our families for two or three days every time. And we don't even have water or food ourselves,' he said. In addition to the danger, the drivers faced humiliation from Israeli forces, he said, who put them through 'prolonged searches, unclear instructions, and hours of waiting.' The war began Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 others. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to the latest figures by Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians and operates under the Hamas government. The threats come from everywhere Nahed Sheheibr, head of the Special Transport Association, said the danger for the drivers comes from everywhere. He accused Israel of detaining drivers and using them as human shields. The Israeli military did not comment on the accusation. In recent days, men linked to a violent Gaza clan fired at drivers, injuring one, and looted a convoy of 14 trucks, he said. They later looted a convoy of 10 trucks. Hossni al-Sharafi, who runs a trucking company and was an aid driver himself, said he is only allowed to use drivers who have no political affiliation and have been approved by Israel to transport aid from crossings. Al-Sharafi said he was detained by Israeli forces for more than 10 days last year while transporting aid from the southern Kerem Shalom crossing and interrogated about where the truck was headed and how the aid was being distributed. Israeli officials did not comment on the accusations. Some drivers spoke of being shot at repeatedly by armed gangs. Others said their trucks were routinely picked clean — even of the wooden pallets— by waves of desperate people, many of whom were fighting each other for the food, while Israeli troops were shooting. Hungry families who miss out on the aid throw stones at the trucks in anger. Anas Rabea said the moment he pulled out of the Zikkim crossing last week his aid truck was overwhelmed by a crowd. 'Our instructions are to stop, because we don't want to run anyone over,' he said. 'It's crazy. You have people climbing all over the cargo, over the windows. It's like you're blind, you can't see out.' After the crowd had stripped everything, he drove another few hundred meters and was stopped by an armed gang that threatened to shoot him. They searched the truck and took a bag of flour he had saved for himself, he said. 'Every time we go out, we get robbed,' he said. 'It's getting worse day by day.' ——- Associated Press writers Julia Frankel contributed to this report from Jerusalem and Sally Abou Aljoud from Beirut. Mariam Dagga contributed from Khan Younis, Gaza Strip.
Edmonton Journal
an hour ago
- Edmonton Journal
'They were shot in the head': Canadian Druze ask Ottawa to intervene
Members of the Druze diaspora in Canada are facing anguish and uncertainty as they await word from family and friends in Syria amid reports of massacres and kidnappings. The largely Druze town of Suwayda was shaken in mid-July by clashes between Druze and armed Bedouin. Reuters reports execution-style killings of unarmed Druze civilians and home-to-home massacres, with about a thousand believed killed in the bloodshed. A medical examiner said he had seen about 500 bodies, including a decapitation, close-range gunshots, and teenage girls with throats slit. The government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who overthrew the Assad regime last December, has denied any involvement in the civilian killings. Canadian Druze held a news conference on July 25 outside Toronto City Hall to call the public's attention to the atrocities and to call on the Canadian government to intervene. Among them: Rahaf Alakbani, 34, who arrived from Suwayda with her husband, Esmaeel Aboufakher, in February 2016, following the escalation of violence and persecution in Syria. Article content Article content Article content Article content She still has family members in Suwayda, including her parents and siblings. Her two nephews – Salah, 13 and Yusuf, 15 – and brother-in-law Samir, were killed, and her friend's brother is still missing. With electricity and internet cut, she's unable to determine their safety or whereabouts. Alakbani has worked with the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture, supporting refugees and survivors of trauma as they adapt to life in Canada. She spoke to Dave Gordon for National Post. What was it like for you when the Assad regime fell? We always dreamed the regime would be done, and it was so amazing, and we felt optimistic for a new future. We wanted to rebuild Syria. My husband and I work in the humanitarian field, and social work, and we had lots of ideas to build our countries. But the new regime ruined all these dreams. When you heard of the atrocities this month, what went through your mind? I still cannot believe it. I could barely sleep. I could barely talk. My parents are still there, my husband's family with eight sisters. We're worried about them. Article content Article content What kind of contact have you had with friends and family in Syria? Before the internet cut off, I was talking to them through WhatsApp. But they cut the internet and the landlines and electricity. I don't know whether they are still alive. How did you find out about what happened to your brother-in-law and his boys? When there was internet. My sister-in-law has three boys, one of them, he lives in Jordan. He's studying there. And so he sent us on the WhatsApp group that his brothers and his dad were killed. They were shot in the back and the head. My sister-in-law, my husband's sister Hanna, had a camera in the home, and had everything documented, but she doesn't know how to release this, so we're trying to help her to have this as evidence. Tell me about Salah and Yusuf, your nephews. I remember when we went to Syria (six years ago), they were both learning instruments. We sat together, we started singing, playing music. They're very talented. They were very beautiful spirits. They were full of life, and very funny. So they have nothing to do with any politics, any war. What do you remember about Samir? He used to have a detergent factory and always liked to help people. My mom-in-law always said when sometimes people came to buy some detergent, and he knew that they are poor, he didn't take money from them. He was very funny, wise. My sister-in-law lives in the city centre; all of the militias were attacking the neighborhood, and was very horrible situation for them. It was tragedy. They heard gunfire, rockets and the fighters were shouting, 'Allahu Akbar,' and they were just running. And my sister-in-law saw all this from her door, and saw a civilian knifed in the head. I have a friend who told me her entire town was gone.
Calgary Herald
an hour ago
- Calgary Herald
'They were shot in the head': Canadian Druze ask Ottawa to intervene
Members of the Druze diaspora in Canada are facing anguish and uncertainty as they await word from family and friends in Syria amid reports of massacres and kidnappings. The largely Druze town of Suwayda was shaken in mid-July by clashes between Druze and armed Bedouin. Reuters reports execution-style killings of unarmed Druze civilians and home-to-home massacres, with about a thousand believed killed in the bloodshed. A medical examiner said he had seen about 500 bodies, including a decapitation, close-range gunshots, and teenage girls with throats slit. The government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who overthrew the Assad regime last December, has denied any involvement in the civilian killings. Canadian Druze held a news conference on July 25 outside Toronto City Hall to call the public's attention to the atrocities and to call on the Canadian government to intervene. Among them: Rahaf Alakbani, 34, who arrived from Suwayda with her husband, Esmaeel Aboufakher, in February 2016, following the escalation of violence and persecution in Syria. Article content Article content Article content Article content She still has family members in Suwayda, including her parents and siblings. Her two nephews – Salah, 13 and Yusuf, 15 – and brother-in-law Samir, were killed, and her friend's brother is still missing. With electricity and internet cut, she's unable to determine their safety or whereabouts. Alakbani has worked with the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture, supporting refugees and survivors of trauma as they adapt to life in Canada. She spoke to Dave Gordon for National Post. What was it like for you when the Assad regime fell? We always dreamed the regime would be done, and it was so amazing, and we felt optimistic for a new future. We wanted to rebuild Syria. My husband and I work in the humanitarian field, and social work, and we had lots of ideas to build our countries. But the new regime ruined all these dreams. When you heard of the atrocities this month, what went through your mind? I still cannot believe it. I could barely sleep. I could barely talk. My parents are still there, my husband's family with eight sisters. We're worried about them. Article content Article content What kind of contact have you had with friends and family in Syria? Before the internet cut off, I was talking to them through WhatsApp. But they cut the internet and the landlines and electricity. I don't know whether they are still alive. How did you find out about what happened to your brother-in-law and his boys? When there was internet. My sister-in-law has three boys, one of them, he lives in Jordan. He's studying there. And so he sent us on the WhatsApp group that his brothers and his dad were killed. They were shot in the back and the head. My sister-in-law, my husband's sister Hanna, had a camera in the home, and had everything documented, but she doesn't know how to release this, so we're trying to help her to have this as evidence. Tell me about Salah and Yusuf, your nephews. I remember when we went to Syria (six years ago), they were both learning instruments. We sat together, we started singing, playing music. They're very talented. They were very beautiful spirits. They were full of life, and very funny. So they have nothing to do with any politics, any war. What do you remember about Samir? He used to have a detergent factory and always liked to help people. My mom-in-law always said when sometimes people came to buy some detergent, and he knew that they are poor, he didn't take money from them. He was very funny, wise. What are your connections in Syria hearing and seeing? My sister-in-law lives in the city centre; all of the militias were attacking the neighborhood, and was very horrible situation for them. It was tragedy. They heard gunfire, rockets and the fighters were shouting, 'Allahu Akbar,' and they were just running. And my sister-in-law saw all this from her door, and saw a civilian knifed in the head. I have a friend who told me her entire town was gone.
