Humanitarian observers who entered Gaza during some of the most violent phases of the genocidal war say they saw patterns that raise troubling questions about Israel’s behaviour toward the distribution of life-saving aid. One European researcher, who spent several weeks in the Strip earlier this year, describes episodes in which Israeli forces appeared to facilitate the breakdown of local protection units guarding food convoys, creating conditions in which organised groups and desperate individuals could seize supplies. His account comes from a period when starvation warnings were already widespread and international monitors were blocked from entering the territory.

In his written testimony, he recounts multiple nights when convoys attempted new routes designed by aid specialists to avoid the most dangerous areas. These routes relied on local communities who stepped in to secure the passage of flour, water and hygiene kits. Despite those measures, he says Israeli drones hovered overhead as the convoys came under fire, and that men who had been preparing to shield the aid were killed. Dozens of lorries were stripped of their cargo. According to him, even when only a portion of a convoy was taken, aid workers privately described it as “a better outcome” than earlier attempts in which nearly all supplies had vanished before reaching shelters.

He further alleges that when humanitarian agencies built an alternative road to keep drivers away from the coastal highway, where repeated attacks had made distribution nearly impossible, Israeli strikes destroyed a section of that new passage before it could become operational. He interprets these actions as part of a broader strategy to weaken local governance structures, undermine international agencies, and create space for groups willing to cooperate with Israeli authorities to profit from the chaos by redistributing or selling aid.

The researcher, who has been visiting Gaza for decades, describes his final days there as a confrontation with near-total devastation. Neighbourhoods he had known for years, he says, had vanished into dust. He argues that any historic attempt to stabilise a territory has relied not only on military action but also on political engagement with the civilian population, something he believes has been entirely absent. For him, the Gaza genocide illustrates a frightening future in which the international system has failed, and norms once considered foundational, such as those rooted in Geneva and universal human rights, are treated as optional.