Israeli security personnel tip off settlers to attack Gaza aid trucks: Guardian

By Ahmed Asmar

ANKARA (AA) - Israeli security personnel are leaking information to extremists and illegal settlers on the location of aid trucks en route to war-battered Gaza, allowing them to block and vandalize the convoys, The Guardian said in an exclusive report on Tuesday.

Over the past few weeks, illegal Israeli settlers have attacked and vandalized dozens of aid trucks traveling from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip.

Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on the enclave since last October when it launched a war against Hamas after a cross-border incursion that claimed 1,200 lives, leaving the territory’s entire population on the verge of starvation.

Military operations for over seven months have killed more than 35,000 Palestinians besides causing forced internal displacement, conditions of famine, and reducing the enclave to rubble. The war has also led to Israel's ongoing trial over alleged genocide at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

The British daily quoted a member of a main settler group behind the attacks, who said they receive information about the location of the aid trucks from members of the Israeli police and military.

The newspaper said the claim on collusion of security forces was supported by messages from internal internet chat groups it reviewed, as well as accounts from a number of witnesses and activists.

The settlers claim the aid is diverted to Hamas, but the allegations have been rejected by relief agencies.

"Yes, some of our intel comes from individual members of Israeli forces," Rachel Touitou, a spokesperson for the Tzav 9 group involved in attacks against aid trucks, told The Guardian.

Distancing from recent arson attacks on aid trucks, she admitted that the group blocks the aid trucks in order to stop supplies reaching Hamas.

The newspaper also spoke to Palestinian truck drivers carrying the aid to Gaza who described the attacks as "barbaric scenes."

“There is full cooperation between the settlers and the army. We are shocked and surprised that the army did not provide us with any kind of protection. Even though they were present and watching what was happening. The army was at the service of the settlers,” said Yazid al-Zoubi, 26, a Palestinian lorry driver who was attacked by the protesters last week at Tarqumiya checkpoint.

An Israeli rights activist was beaten by the settlers when she tried to document the attacks on the aid trucks without intervention from Israeli security forces. Sapir Sluzker Amran said the settlers who attack the aid trucks hold guns and knives.