Israel’s army says it is investigating allegations that soldiers fired on a UN humanitarian vehicle in the Gaza Strip. According to a UN report, the vehicle was traveling on a humanitarian corridor when it was hit by gunfire. “The incident is being investigated,” the military said.
The United Nations had demanded clarification from Israel after Tuesday’s incident. The clearly marked UN humanitarian vehicle was part of a convoy whose journey was fully coordinated with the Israeli army. It was was shot at ten times by Israeli gunmen, said spokesman Stéphane Dujarric in New York.
The vehicle belonged to the World Food Programme (WFP), which is temporarily suspending the movement of its staff in Gaza in response to the incident. According to the WFP, the incident occurred a few meters from an Israeli checkpoint in central Gaza after a team of aid workers had escorted trucks carrying humanitarian aid in two UN cars. The shots were fired even though the convoy had explicit permission to travel, it said.
“The Israeli army considers humanitarian efforts and the protection of humanitarian workers to be very important,” the Israeli army said. The State of Israel is committed to improving coordination with humanitarian organizations and security in order to ensure the effective delivery of relief supplies to the coastal strip.
Since the Gaza war began almost eleven months ago, aid workers have been killed again and again. At the beginning of April, around seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen (WCK) organization were killed in an Israeli air strike as their convoy of three vehicles left a warehouse in Deir al-Balah in the center of the Gaza Strip. The Israeli army later described the attack as a “serious error” based on incorrect identification of the vehicles.
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