Thousands of Gazans loot UN warehouses as Israel's ground incursion intensifies

The UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) reported this Sunday that thousands of people looted its food warehouses in Gaza, taking supplies such as wheat and flour.

"This is a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down after three weeks of war and a tight siege," the agency's head in Gaza, Thomas White, said in a statement, in which he also called for more trucks with humanitarian aid.

A week ago, the Rafah border crossing, located in the south of the Strip, was opened for the first time to allow in vehicles with "vital supplies," although experts such as Caroline Glick have questioned whether the resources will really benefit civilians.

One of the raided warehouses, in Deir al-Balah, stored supplies transported by humanitarian convoys that came in from Egypt, according to UNRWA—which has reported that 80 trucks have come in so far.

Israel expands Gaza incursion

This weekend, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) expanded the ground incursion into Gaza, while airstrikes on Hamas-controlled territory continue.

"Our forces are currently operating on the ground in Gaza all in service of the war's objectives: dismantling Hamas, securing our borders and the supreme effort to return the hostages home." Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi explained on Saturday. "In order to expose and destroy the enemy there is no other way than to enter its territory with force."

Halevi also reported that Israeli troops managed to destroy enemy infrastructure and cause "hundreds of deaths" within the ranks of Hamas. Videos shared by the IDF show some of the military vehicles that are part of the offensive:

The Israeli military has continued to encourage Gazans to evacuate conflict zones. Through pamphlets, Arab media and videos on social media, among others, they have asked civilians to move south until the conflict ends.

Across the border, Israel continued to be subject to airstrikes throughout Saturday and Sunday, with alarms going off in areas such as downtown and Tel Aviv. The projectiles were fired from both Gaza and Lebanon, where Hezbollah is hiding out. Its degree of involvement in the war is still unknown.

More than 1,000 arrests

On Saturday night, Israeli forces detained 23 people in search and capture. In total, they reported that they have detained 1,030 people, of which 700 were believed to be part of Hamas.

During these operations, they also seized military weapons, including rifles, pistols, ammunition and bulletproof vests.

Sources from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another terrorist group, reported by The Israel Times announced senior political official Taysir Alghouti was killed at his home in Rafah, located in southern Gaza. Several members of his family also supposedly died in the attack.

"The war in Gaza will be long and difficult"

Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, met on Saturday with families of the victims kidnapped by Hamas. "My heart was broken," Netanyahu later said at a news conference, insisting that one of the main goals of the next stage of the war is to free the hostages, in addition to destroying the terrorist group and ending their control over Gaza.

"The war inside the Gaza Strip will be long and difficult – and we are ready for it," Netanyahu stated. "This our second war of independence. We will fight to defend our homeland. We will fight and not retreat. We will fight on land, at sea and in the air. We will destroy the enemy above ground and below ground. We will fight and we will win."