CNN
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The World Food Programme (WFP) is suspending the movement of its staff in the Gaza Strip after one of its vehicles came under repeated fire just metres from an Israeli checkpoint, the humanitarian organisation said in a statement.
“Although the vehicle was clearly marked and had received multiple permissions from Israeli authorities to approach, it was directly hit by gunfire on its way to an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) checkpoint,” the agency said in a statement.
The armored vehicle was one of two returning from a mission escorting humanitarian aid through the Palestinian enclave. A photo released by the WFP showed several bullet holes in the driver’s window; at least 10 bullets struck the vehicle, the agency said.
None of the employees on board were physically injured, it was said.
CNN has contacted the Israeli military for comment.
The World Food Programme is the UN’s main food aid agency and a mainstay of the humanitarian aid network in the besieged Gaza Strip. It distributes food in the devastated area, which has been suffering from famine for months.
But persistent air strikes and repeated evacuation orders by the Israeli armed forces have forced many of the agency’s food warehouses and community kitchens to close, according to the WFP. The “humanitarian zone” in Gaza designated by the Israeli army is also shrinking steadily; in the last month alone, the Israeli army has reduced this zone by 38 percent – the remaining area is now just over a tenth of Gaza’s total area, according to a CNN analysis.
Humanitarian workers usually coordinate their routes with the Israeli forces to move in relative safety. “As last night’s events show, the current system of conflict prevention is failing and cannot continue,” WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain said in the statement.
In April, aid workers from another hunger relief organization, the World Central Kitchen, were killed in an Israeli strike while traveling by car through Gaza, despite having coordinated their route and itinerary with Israeli authorities. The airstrikes hit three cars in their convoy, killing three Britons, a Palestinian, a US-Canadian national, an Australian and a Pole.
In a press conference on Wednesday, UN Secretary-General spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the WFP aid vehicle that was shot at was clearly marked. He described the WFP logo in conflict zones as “probably one of the most recognizable in the world.”
He said the UN had officially protested to Israel over the incident and stressed the responsibility of UN member states to protect UN aid workers who are helping people in some of the world’s most dangerous places.
“Whether in Gaza, whether in Sudan, whether in Chad, whether elsewhere or in Ukraine, in battlefields, they do not act according to the whims of (Secretary-General) Antonio Guterres,” he said.
“They work on behalf of the United Nations… It is the responsibility of all member states that are part of this organization to ensure the protection of the humanitarian workers who, so to speak, work for them.”
Pressure is growing on Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to negotiate a ceasefire and the release of the hostages, even as the enclave is plagued by severe famine, painful water shortages, mass displacement and disease.
At least 40,435 Palestinians have been killed and another 93,534 injured in the Israeli military campaign in Gaza, according to the Israeli Health Ministry. The Israeli military launched its air and ground assault on the isolated enclave after Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7. According to Israeli authorities, they killed around 1,200 people and abducted more than 250.
