A French historian and Middle East scholar, Jean‑Pierre Filiu, claims he witnessed “utterly convincing” evidence that Israeli forces backed looters who attacked humanitarian aid convoys in Gaza.
Filiu — who spent over a month in Gaza from December 2024 — documents in his book A Historian in Gaza and related interviews that Israeli military strikes targeted the security personnel guarding aid trucks, thereby leaving the convoys vulnerable to armed gangs.
He reports one night in early December where drones and Israeli fire attacked guards protecting a convoy, leading to dozens of trucks being looted. Many of the stolen supplies later appeared in local markets in Gaza — sold at inflated prices.
According to Filiu’s account, this was not isolated — he describes a broader pattern in which aid-distribution routes were disrupted, guards were systematically targeted, and looting was permitted or even enabled — effectively transforming humanitarian aid into a chaotic commodity controlled by gangs.
Filiu argues this amounted to a deliberate strategy: undermining humanitarian aid efforts, discrediting both local authorities and international relief agencies, and enabling illicit profiteering at the expense of a besieged civilian population.