UN agency hits out as it claims aid convoy was hit by Israeli gunfire
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has criticised the Israeli army after an aid convoy was allegedly shot at in Gaza on Thursday.
It said an armoured car was clearly marked with UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) branding and was hit despite prior coordination with Israel to ensure it would be protected.
The vehicle was one of two returning to the south of Gaza after delivering supplies, including food, to Rimal in Gaza City in the north.
UNRWA director of communications Juliette Touma told Sky News the team came under gunfire just south of Wadi Gaza on Salah al Deen, the main road connecting the north and south of Gaza.
The aid staff “could see it was the Israeli army firing at the cars”, she said.
Thomas White, director of UNRWA affairs Gaza, wrote on X: “Aid workers should never be a target.”
Sky News has contacted the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) with a request to comment.
Mark Regev, senior adviser to Israel’s prime minister, claimed UNRWA’s workers union was under the control of Hamas.
“All the information he [Thomas White] is receiving is information that Hamas wants him to hear,” he told Sky News.
“And we have clear indications that Hamas is desperate for the international community to support a ceasefire because they [Hamas] see Israel’s military operation is moving ahead.
“We’re taking apart Hamas’s military machine, we’re eliminating its senior commanders, and they’re desperate for a ceasefire
“They want to give the feeling there’s a humanitarian crisis, so there’s more pressure on Israel to cease fire, to save themselves.
“We can’t let them succeed in doing that.”
Asked whether there would be an investigation into UNRWA’s claims, he said: “There’s always an investigation. When we have made a mistake, we have admitted it.”
Read more:
Israel admits deadly airstrike was ‘regrettable mistake’
IDF shows media a Hamas tunnel
Meanwhile, Mercy Corps vice president Kate Phillips-Barrasso warned aid was desperately needed throughout the bombarded enclave, where half a million people – a quarter of its 2.3 million residents – faced “catastrophic hunger and starvation”.
Some 85% of the population has been displaced by the IDF’s air and ground offensive after Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israel that saw 1,200 people killed.
The conflict has claimed the lives of more than 21,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Dozens killed as Israeli offensive continues
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
War will end when Hamas ‘surrender’
Ms Phillips-Barrasso said the amount of lifesaving goods being allowed to enter remains a drop in the ocean, far short from meeting Gazans’ basic and critical needs, even after Israel opened its Kerem Shalom border crossing.
Thursday’s alleged attack on the UNRWA vehicles came despite the agency conducting prior “deconfliction” with the Israeli army to ensure aid cars and personnel are protected on the roads, the UNRWA’s Ms Touma added.
She told Sky News: “We expect them to be protected. It should not happen. UN personnel and UN vehicles must be protected at all times.”
“Luckily, fortunately, no one was hurt.”
One vehicle was damaged, but made it back to the UNRWA base in the south of Gaza city, she said.
Israel has approved a plan to capture all of the Gaza Strip and remain there for an unspecified length of time, Israeli officials say.
According to Reuters, the plan includes distributing aid, though supplies will not be let in yet.
The Israeli official told the agency that the newly approved offensive plan would move Gaza’s civilian population southward and keep humanitarian aid from falling into Hamas’s hands.
On Sunday, the United Nations rejected what it said was a new plan for aid to be distributed in what it described as Israeli hubs.
Israeli cabinet ministers approved plans for the new offensive on Monday morning, hours after it was announced that tens of thousands of reserve soldiers are being called up.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far failed to achieve his goal of destroying Hamas or returning all the hostages, despite more than a year of brutal war in Gaza.
Palestinian children struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza. Pic: AP
Officials say the plan will help with these war aims but it would also push hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to southern Gaza, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis.
They said the plan included the “capturing of the strip and the holding of territories”.
It would also try to prevent Hamas from distributing humanitarian aid, which Israel says strengthens the group’s rule in Gaza.
The UN rejected the plan, saying it would leave large parts of the population, including the most vulnerable, without supplies.
It said it “appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
IDF reservists call for end to war in Gaza
Read more:
Israeli pilots’ letter reveals deepening rift
Seriously ill children from Gaza allowed into UK
More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since the IDF launched its ground offensive in the densely-populated territory, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
It followed the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw around 250 people taken hostage.
A fragile ceasefire that saw a pause in the fighting and the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners collapsed earlier this year.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.
A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.
“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.
Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.
Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.
The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.
Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.
Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.
Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.
Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway