The trickle of food aid Israel allows to enter Gaza after nearly 22 months of fighting is seized by Palestinians risking their lives under fire, looted by gangs or diverted in chaotic circumstances rather than reaching those most in need, AFP reports citing UN agencies, aid groups and analysts.

After images of malnourished children stoked an international outcry, aid has started to be delivered to the territory once more, but on a scale deemed woefully insufficient by international organisations.

Every day, AFP correspondents on the ground see desperate crowds rushing towards food convoys or the sites of aid drops by Arab and European air forces.

On Thursday, in Al-Zawayda in central Gaza, emaciated Palestinians rushed to pallets parachuted from a plane, jostling and tearing packages from each other in a cloud of dust.

“Hunger has driven people to turn on each other. People are fighting each other with knives,” Amir Zaqot, who came seeking aid, told AFP.

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