UN food convoy comes under Israel artillery fire in Gaza

Palestinians including children face extreme hunger as the food distributed by charity organizations are not delivered to people due to the ongoing humanitarian aid blockade in Rafah, Gaza on February 1, 2024. [Abed Zagout – Anadolu Agency]

A food convoy came under Israeli artillery fire in the Gaza Strip on Monday, the UN Palestinian refugee agency, or UNRWA, said, Anadolu Agency reports.

“This morning, a food convoy waiting to move into Northern Gaza was hit by Israeli naval gunfire,” UNRWA’s Gaza chief, Thomas White, said on X.

No one was injured in the attack.

“We cannot deliver humanitarian aid under fire,” the Agency said. “Safe and sustainable humanitarian access is urgently needed everywhere, including to the North of Gaza.”

Since Israel’s offensive on Gaza began on 7 October, there have been multiple attacks interfering with aid distribution, including a 25 January attack on civilians waiting for humanitarian aid that killed at least 20 people and injured at least 150.

Israel has accused some UNRWA employees of involvement in the 7 October attack by Palestinian group, Hamas, which Israel says killed nearly 1,200 people.

However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.

A number of countries, including Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, Finland, Australia, the UK, Netherlands, the US, France, Austria and Japan have temporarily suspended financial support to UNRWA due to the Israeli accusations.

UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has called for a thorough and immediate investigation into the Israeli accusations. Guterres’s call met with a self-investigation initiated by the UNRWA.

Israel launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip since 7 October, killing at least 27,365 Palestinians and injuring 66,630 others.

The Israeli offensive has left 85 per cent of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60 per cent of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

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