World Food Programme (WFP) halts operations in Gaza after repeated shootings at aid vehicle
CNN
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The World Food Programme (WFP) has frozen travel by its staff in Gaza after one of its vehicles came under repeated fire just metres from an Israeli checkpoint, the aid agency said in a statement.
“Despite being clearly marked and having received multiple permits from Israeli authorities to approach, the vehicle was directly hit by gunfire as it was heading towards an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) checkpoint,” the agency’s statement read.
The armoured vehicle was one of two vehicles returning from a mission to escort humanitarian aid into the Palestinian enclave. A photo released by WFP shows multiple bullet holes in the driver’s side window; at least 10 bullets hit the vehicle, the agency said.
None of the employees on board were physically injured, he said.
CNN has contacted the Israeli military for comment.
The World Food Programme is the UN’s main food relief agency and a key pillar of the humanitarian aid network in the besieged Gaza Strip, distributing food across the devastated territory, where famine has been spreading for months.
But airstrikes and repeated evacuation orders by Israeli forces have forced the closure of many of the agency’s food warehouses and community kitchens, according to the WFP. The IDF’s designated “humanitarian zone” in Gaza is also steadily shrinking; in the past month alone, the IDF has reduced that area by 38 percent — the remaining space representing just over a tenth of Gaza’s total area, according to a CNN analysis.
Aid workers typically coordinate their routes with Israeli forces in order to move safely. “As last night’s events demonstrate, the current deconfliction system is failing and this cannot continue,” WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain said in a statement.
In April, aid workers from another hunger relief organization, World Central Kitchen, were killed in an Israeli attack while driving through Gaza, despite coordinating with Israeli authorities on their route. The airstrikes hit three cars in their convoy, killing three Britons, a Palestinian, a US-Canadian citizen, an Australian and a Pole.
At a news conference on Wednesday, the spokesman for the UN secretary-general, Stephane Dujarric, said the WFP aid vehicle that was shot down was clearly marked, describing the WFP logo as “probably one of the most recognizable in the world” in conflict zones.
He said the UN had formally protested to Israel over the incident and stressed the responsibility of UN member states to protect UN aid workers, who serve populations in some of the most dangerous places in the world.
“Whether it’s Gaza, Sudan, Chad, anywhere else, or Ukraine, where there’s fighting, they’re not acting at the whim of (Secretary-General) Antonio Guterres,” he said.
“They are acting 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 humanitarian workers who work for them, so to speak.”
Pressure is mounting on Hamas, which rules Gaza, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire deal and release the hostages amid severe famine, severe water shortages, mass displacement and disease in the enclave.
The Israeli military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 40,435 Palestinians and wounded 93,534, according to the city’s Health Ministry. The Israeli military launched its air and ground offensive in the isolated enclave after a Hamas attack in southern Israel on October 7 that killed about 1,200 people and abducted more than 250 others, according to Israeli authorities.
