X059-GAZA DIFICULTADES REPARTO AYUDA
Truck drivers tasked with delivering aid to Palestinians in Gaza spoke of the difficulties they faced during their work in the enclave.
From the long waiting hours at border crossings attempting to enter Gaza, to the large crowds of people rushing towards their trucks scrambling to get their hands on supplies – two truck drivers described to Reuters the struggles they face.
“People come with sticks and pipes, puncturing tires, blocking the roads,” said one of the drivers, Abu Qusay, describing the situation they face as they approach their designated drop-off points.
Another driver, Hani Sorour, said that aid seekers accuse the drivers of running people over, an accusation he says is not true.
Sorour added that they have been given instructions to stop “one kilometre away from the army” position, so “they don’t shoot at the children and the people trying to get the goods", he said.
“We arrive and the crowds gather. We worry about the safety of the people, so we tell them: ‘please step back a bit, we are not going to run away from you," Sorour explained.
Following an incident last month in which Israeli tanks fired into a crowd trying to get aid from trucks in Gaza, killing at least 59 people, according to medics, the Israel Defense Forces said the incident was "under review".
"The IDF regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimise harm as much as possible to them while maintaining the safety of our troops," it added in a statement in July.
Israel has regularly said it takes steps to avoid hitting civilians. Israel says it is seeking to eliminate militants from Hamas, which attacked southern Israel from Gaza in 2023, and free hostages still held by the group.
Hamas rejects Israeli accusations that it steals aid and accuses Israel of using aid as a weapon against the Gaza population.
Head of the private transport association in Gaza, Nahed Shaheiber, said a ceasefire was needed to allow them to do their work properly.
“What we need is a ceasefire, the lifting of the occupation from Gaza, the withdrawal of the occupation (forces), and a ceasefire—then we can finally work properly,” he said.
Israeli gunfire killed nine aid-seekers in two separate incidents, Palestinian medics said on Wednesday (August 13). Israel's military did not comment.
Eight more people, including three children, have died of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza in the past 24 hours, the territory's health ministry said. That took the total to 235, including 106 children, since the war began.
Israel denies responsibility for hunger, accusing Hamas of stealing aid. It says it has taken steps to increase deliveries, including daily combat pauses in some areas and protected routes for aid convoys.
The Israeli military on Wednesday said that nearly 320 trucks entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings and that a further nearly 320 trucks were collected and distributed by the U.N. and international organizations in the past 24 hours along with three tankers of fuel and 97 pallets of air-dropped aid.
The United Nations and Palestinians say aid entering Gaza remains far from sufficient.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures. Israel's offensive against Hamas in Gaza since then has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials.
DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES
KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA (AUGUST 12, 2025) (REUTERS – Access all)
1. CROWDS OF PEOPLE GATHERING AROUND AND ON TOP OF AID TRUCK/PEOPLE CARRYING AID BAGS
2. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE GATHERING ON TOP OF AID TRUCK / TRUCK’S SHATTERED GLASS
3. TRUCK’S BROKEN GLASS/DRIVER GETTING INTO TRUCK
4. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) TRUCK DRIVER, ABU QUSAY, SAYING:
“The people are the ones throwing themselves in front of the vehicles. Those who clear the way for the vehicles, nobody is running them over.”
5. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE RUSHING AND GATHERING ON TRUCK
6. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) TRUCK DRIVER, ABU QUSAY, SAYING:
“As you know, the driver ends up spending two or three days stuck at the crossing, with no food, no drink, no water. And at the end, people come with sticks and pipes, puncturing tires, blocking the roads as you can see, puncturing the tires. I don’t know what the driver carrying – bringing gold or something?”
[VOICE ASKING] “So why is this mesh on the window?”
“Because of the smashing and the people. You know, maybe we’ve become the Jews (Israelis) now.”
7. PEOPLE ON TRUCK/PEOPLE GATHERED AROUND TRUCK
8. MAN CARRYING AID / MAN HELPING ANOTHER MAN GET ON TRUCK
9. PEOPLE ON TRUCK GETTING AID
10. TRUCK MOVING
11. UNCONSCIOUS MAN ON THE GROUND
12. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) TRUCK DRIVER FROM NORTHERN GAZA, HANI SOROUR, SAYING:
“The aid comes in…about every two or three hours they let in a convoy of ten vehicles (trucks), or fifteen vehicles, they let them in, in one go, with the aid. We arrive and the crowds gather. We worry about the safety of the people, so we tell them: ‘please step back a bit, we are not going to run away from you.’ The last point for us is this one here, which is “Happy City” - this is the last point for us. The truck needs to be emptied because we have to turn around and go back to the crossing again. We tell people: ‘help us’ because if the crowd helps us take (unload) without harming the drivers, we can come back with another load, maybe even one more. When things go smoothly, we can do two or three journeys a day. That way, instead of aid arriving in one vehicle (once), the same truck can deliver four or five times or at least three times (more).”
13. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE CARRYING AID
14. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) TRUCK DRIVER FROM NORTHERN GAZA, HANI SOROUR, SAYING:
“We face many things. People say: ‘you run us over; you do not stop for us.’ We have been instructed to stop one kilometre away from the army so they don’t shoot at the children and the people trying to get the goods.”
15. VARIOUS OF EMPTY TRUCKS MOVING
16. EMPTY TRUCKS LINED UP
17. EMPTY TRUCK MOVING AMONG CROWD OF PEOPLE
18. PEOPLE WALKING / VEHICLES MOVING
19. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) TRUCK DRIVER FROM NORTHERN GAZA, HANI SOROUR, SAYING:
“And the people who are pushing themselves on the trucks, they are the ones pushing the children and young men under the trucks. I am moving with the truck…it has big wheels and is heavy. I might not realize that I have run over a person’s foot, or their body. It might be that a stone or something hit. But then people say: ‘stop, driver, there is someone under your wheel!’ he is lying, there would be no one there, under the wheel.”
20. VARIOUS OF TRUCKS WITH SHATTERED GLASS
21. VARIOUS OF TRUCKS MOVING
GAZA CITY, GAZA (AUGUST 12, 2025) (REUTERS – Access all)
22. NAHED SHAHEIBER HEAD OF THE PRIVATE TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION IN GAZA, COMING OUT OF HIS OFFICE
23. SHAHEIBER STANDING NEXT TO TRUCK
24. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HEAD OF THE PRIVATE TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION IN GAZA, NAHED SHAHEIBER, SAYING:
“Neither the driver, nor the aid owner, or the one who distributes the aid, WFP (World Food Programme), or any of these people, can work without security. Even the merchants cannot guarantee their goods will reach their destinations without trouble.”
25. VARIOUS OF TRUCKS
26. DESTROYED/DAMAGED TRUCK PARTS
27. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HEAD OF THE PRIVATE TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION IN GAZA, NAHED SHAHEIBER, SAYING:
“What we need is a ceasefire, the lifting of the occupation from Gaza, the withdrawal of the occupation (forces), and a ceasefire—then we can finally work properly.”
28. SHAHEIBER STANDING NEAR TRUCKS IN YARD