A US aid official has said thousands of tonnes of food, medicines and other aid piled up on a Gaza beach are not reaching those in need because of a dire security situation on the ground, Al Jazeera reports.

Doug Stropes of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) explained Gaza continues to be an active combat zone with a “general sense of lawlessness”.

According to Stropes, truck drivers trying to deliver via a US-built pier are either getting shot at or having their cargo seized by “gang-like” groups.

The looting “appeared to have expanded beyond just self-distribution”, he said.

“It expanded recently beyond just those in need stopping the vehicles and getting the assistance out, and it appears to be organised — not in the sense of a large-scale organisation, but there are organised elements that are stopping and taking the commodities from the trucks.”