Societal breakdown in the Gaza Strip during the Israel–Hamas war

During the Israel-Hamas war, societal and institutional breakdown occurred across the Gaza Strip caused by continual military assaults by the Israeli Defense Forces on Palestinian law enforcement institutions as well as widespread starvation, famine, and lack of essential supplies created by the conflict and blockade of the Gaza Strip. Due to significant destabilization caused by military conflict and the ongoing Gaza humanitarian crisis, the United Nations reported in July 2024 that significant increases in looting, killing of law enforcement and humanitarian workers expanded across the Gaza Strip, and were emblematic of greater societal breakdown and spreading "anarchy" throughout the enclave.

Background

Further information: 2023 Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip and Gaza Strip famine

Following the 7 October attack, Israel announced on 9 October that it was blocking the entry of food into Gaza. The blockage, according to the Israeli government, is aimed to neutralize Hamas as a security threat, including preventing military resources from being smuggled under the guise of humanitarian aid. Because Gaza was already mostly reliant on food aid, the repercussions were felt immediately.

In late June 2024, a leaked UN document said that 95% of the population of Gaza were in food insecurity, while almost 500,000 were facing near-famine hunger. The report found famine remained a possibility throughout the entirety of the Gaza Strip, and that the risk was "as high" as at any other time during the conflict. The UN stated one in five households went entire days without eating.

Conflict and humanitarian researchers stated that the collapse of Gazan social order was a deliberate consequence of Israeli military destabilization to force life to be "unbearable" for its citizens.

Societal breakdown

On 19 June 2024, The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported the expansion and escalation of "anarchy" throughout the Gaza Strip as a result of the humanitarian crisis caused by the war, leading to documented "rampant looting, unlawful killings and shootings" of "local police and humanitarian workers". The head of the agency's Gaza and West Bank Ajith Sunghay stated that the significant increase in lawlessness was a result of "Israel's dismantling of local capacity to maintain public order and safety in Gaza". The agency further reported on multiple instances of "mob justice, extortion of money, family disputes, random shootings, fighting for space and resources", and "youths armed with sticks manning barricades".

Looting

The blockade and resulting lack of essential goods resulted in several instances of desperate citizens looting aid trucks. Many large families armed themselves with light weapons to facilitate raids on humanitarian convoys, blocking law enforcement from preventing looting. The lack of formal police protection led to many humanitarian truck drivers signing informal deals with armed citizens to protect their cargo from looting.

In December 2023, several knife-wielding masked individuals raided a UNRWA flour distribution site at the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood in Rafah, causing police to shoot at and kill one of the attackers. The victim's family blocked streets and set tires on fire in Rafah in retaliation, before attacking the UNRWA flour distribution cite and a police station.

In February 2024, The Wall Street Journal reported that lawlessness in Gaza was hindering aid efforts. Axios reported that armed gangs have been attacking and looting aid trucks since Hamas police have quit due to Israeli attacks. A Palestine Red Crescent Society spokesman stated that the civil disorder "contributed to around a 50 percent decrease in the total number of aid trucks entering Gaza in February" and an Egyptian aid truck driver described people climbing and smashing aid trucks. In the middle of February, a Bedouin boy was shot during a confrontation where several citizens raided an aid truck to take its cargo. Dozens of the boy's family members retaliated by storming the Rafah Border crossing courtyard and setting car tires on fire.

Several countries including the United States initiated airdrops of humanitarian aid and food to mitigate famine, which resulted in several confrontations between desperate citizens trying to gather aid from the boxes in addition to several fatal injuries caused by falling aid boxes. Salama Marouf, the head of Gaza’s media office, characterized the air drops as "humiliating and demeaning".

In June, The New York Times reported that relief groups had stopped delivering aid to southern Gaza due to looting and attacks from armed gangs, with aid trucks being peppered by bullet holes on supply routes. Both commercial and aid agencies decided that they could not risk employees’ lives. One aid worker described the daily attacks from armed criminal gangs in the Israel-Gaza border area as being coordinated and organized. The worker said that sometimes the aid truck drivers were beaten. AP News spoke with an UN official who described thousands of aid trucks piled up, armed groups regularly obstructing convoys, and drivers being held at gunpoint. A worker at a Palestinian trucking company said that aid was spoiling in the hot weather. To try to make up for the aid deficiency, Israel allowed more commercial trucks into Gaza from Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which unlike UN convoys, usually travel with armed protection. One Gazan businessman said that in the past he paid thousands of dollars to other Gazans to protect his trucks. An Al-Azhar University associate professor of political science said the lawlessness resulted from increasing desperation and the resulting power vacuum left from Hamas' decreasing power over Gaza.

In late June, the UN warned that it would suspend aid operations in Gaza unless Israel increased efforts to protect humanitarian workers. A State Department spokesman said that in June, looting and other criminal attacks were the largest barriers to delivering aid, rather than Israeli strikes or Hamas’ commandeering of aid convoys. In July, the UN said that they would be bringing in more personal safety equipment and armored vehicles following approval from Israeli officials.

Law enforcement

Due to persistent attacks on law enforcement by Israeli troops, the majority of Gaza's police force stopped wearing uniforms to avoid being targeted, leading to greater instances of lawlessness due to the apparent lack of police presence in many areas.

Stabilization efforts

Several initiatives arose to try and maintain order in regions where Hamas withdrew, some of whom cooperated with Israeli occupation forces. Law enforcement shifted to more "improvisational" strategies towards resolving interpersonal issues between citizens, regulating traffic, and keeping the peace at markets and public spaces. Law enforcement also implemented strategies to improve effective humanitarian aid distribution such as assisting distribution, fielding off looters or desperate citizens, and working to prevent rapid price increases for market goods. Large families assisted with food and aid distribution in collaboration with aid convoys.

Several Palestinian factions hosted by Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and Palestinian Islamic Jihad worked with regional clans and families to create protection committees to maintain security, help with regulating markets, preventing overcrowding around aid trucks, and preventing looting or uncoordinated aid delivery. Many members of these committed were masked men armed with heavy sticks or automatic firearms, with some committees including children on active duty.