Some 15 trucks loaded with flour entered Gaza City and the Jabalya refugee camp on Saturday accompanied by a "guard squad" that included masked armed men.
The Saudi news outlet, A-Sharq Al-Awsat, cited one of the squad members as claiming that the guard squad, established with the approval of the factions and the national consensus, will protect the aid trucks starting on Sunday and ensure that they will not be attacked or stolen.
According to assessments, these are people identified with Fatah and Mahmoud Abbas, the chairman of the Palestinian Authority.
Several guards boarded the trucks, while others walked beside them and prevented crowds from approaching. The flour loaded onto the trucks was transferred to warehouses affiliated with the Palestinian Authority’s Welfare Ministry in the Rimal neighborhood. This was the first time aid trucks arrived at the Jabalya camp in recent months.
Fatah criticizes Hamas
The report comes amid the Fatah’s sharp criticism of Hamas. “Whoever caused a new Nakba and Israel to reoccupy the Gaza Strip does not have the right to dictate the national priorities of the Palestinians."
Fatah claimed that "Hamas is disconnected from reality and the Palestinian people when, until this moment, they have not been informed at all about the magnitude of the disaster in the Strip.”
According to Palestinian media, Fatah expressed its “astonishment” and disagreement at Hamas’s latest statements, stating the group did not consult with the Palestinian leadership when it took the decision to attack on October 7, which led to the “a most horrific disaster,” “more catastrophic than the 1948 Nakba.”
Fatah also criticized the Hamas leadership in Qatar. “It seems that the comfortable life of the Hamas leadership in luxurious hotels had blinded them. Why do the organization’s leaders live abroad, and why did their families flee and leave the Palestinian people to face the war without any protection?”
Later, Fatah made a statement that was an unequivocal message to Hamas: “The Palestinian peoples’ priority is to stop the war immediately, prevent displacement, provide humanitarian aid to Gazans, rebuild the Gaza Strip, end the division, and reunite the Palestinian homeland.
Over the weekend, American media reported that Israel is considering using international private security companies to protect humanitarian aid shipments entering the Strip.
The report claimed that Israel had contacted several security companies about the matter and had suggested that other countries would pay for the security costs.