It is situated just seven kilometres east of the Jordan, in the tribe of Gad (Joshua 13:27). So Gideon is still in Israelite territory, and might reasonably expect to be well received and assisted. But what follows in the dialogue indicates that the residents of Succoth were suspicious of Gideon.1
5 So he said to the men of Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me, for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”