Humanitarian aid enters Gaza through crossings and is then handled by agencies and their distribution partners. A concrete UN-documented example of interference occurred in February 2009, when Hamas authorities seized UNRWA relief supplies at a distribution store and at Kerem Shalom.
What UNRWA reported seized
On 3 February 2009, police personnel broke into an UNRWA distribution store at Beach Camp and took more than 3,500 blankets and 406 food parcels by force. UNRWA said the aid was intended for 500 local families and that staff had refused to hand it to Gaza’s Ministry of Social Affairs. The contemporaneous OCHA weekly report records the seizure and intended recipients.
The seizure at Kerem Shalom
Two days later, ten truckloads carrying 200 metric tons of rice and 100 metric tons of flour were taken from the Gaza side of Kerem Shalom. The food had been imported from Egypt for collection by UNRWA. The agency suspended aid imports until the supplies were returned and it received assurances against another seizure. The UN’s report The Operation in Gaza: Factual and Legal Aspects recounts the crossing seizure and the agency’s suspension; its account of the earlier Beach Camp incident describes the aid seized there.
What the records show about aid diversion
Entry records and seizure reports answer different questions. A shipment record can show goods entering through a crossing; it does not show who ultimately received them. These 2009 UN accounts document specific aid taken after it had reached Gaza and UNRWA’s response. The incidents show why humanitarian monitoring must follow supplies through distribution, not stop at the crossing.