Aid truck headed to Gaza (illustrative)
Aid truck headed to Gaza (illustrative)Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90

A Nukhba terrorist who took part in the October 7 massacre was arrested in the Rafah area while driving an aid truck en route to the Kerem Shalom Crossing.

Channel 12 News reported that the terrorist was transferred to Israeli security forces for further questioning following his arrest.

Security officials said the aid loaded onto the truck was intended for the private sector in the Gaza Strip. The shipment had been transferred through a private merchant in Gaza before being collected by the driver.

The suspect was apprehended while traveling in the Rafah area, before reaching the Kerem Shalom Crossing. After authorities determined that he had participated in the October 7 massacre, he was taken into custody for further investigation.

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Last month, COGAT published a report revealing that approximately 1.78 million tons of food entered the Gaza Strip between October 2025 and June 7, 2026, which it said was nearly three times the monthly humanitarian requirements defined by the World Food Program. It added that humanitarian aid alone exceeded the WFP's higher benchmark, while commercial imports further increased food availability.

The report also stated that food prices in Gaza fell by approximately 72 percent between September 2025 and May 2026, which it attributed to increased humanitarian assistance and commercial supplies.

COGAT's report also noted that Hamas remains the principal impediment to the effective delivery of humanitarian assistance and to broader efforts aimed at stabilizing Gaza, while reiterating Israel's commitment to facilitating humanitarian assistance in coordination with the United States, the UN, and international partners.

In January, the IDF warned that the Hamas terrorist organization is strengthening significantly due to the volume of humanitarian trucks entering the Gaza Strip daily, as well as thanks to smuggling carried out through additional routes into the Strip.
Dual-use materials such as cigarettes, tobacco, electrical products, phones, and dual-use agricultural materials enter not only through aid trucks, but also through the crossings and through the Strip's border, under the cover of Israeli security activity taking place on the Strip's border, including through civilian contractors.
At the time, senior IDF officials recommended that the political echelon insist that the crossing serve only for the movement of people, and not for the entry of goods from Egypt to Gaza as was the case before October 7.
The IDF emphasized that until the war broke out, the main military strengthening of Hamas was done through the entry of goods from the Rafah crossing. Thousands of trucks entered annually through the crossing, and despite warnings from the defense establishment about Hamas's military strengthening through the crossing, the crossing continued to operate.