CNN —
The World Food Programme (WFP) has frozen the movement of its staff in the Gaza Strip after one of its vehicles came under repeated gunfire just metres from an Israeli checkpoint, the humanitarian organisation said in a statement.
“The vehicle was clearly marked and had received multiple authorizations from Israeli authorities to approach, but it came under direct fire while traveling towards an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) checkpoint,” the agency’s statement said.
The armored vehicle was one of two returning from a mission to escort humanitarian supplies through the Palestinian territories. Photos released by the WFP showed multiple bullet holes in the driver’s side window. The WFP said at least 10 bullets had hit the vehicle.
The company said no employees on board were physically injured.
The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that the incident was under investigation.
The World Food Programme is the UN’s main food aid agency and a key pillar of the humanitarian network in the besieged Gaza Strip, distributing food across the devastated area where hunger has been widespread for months.
However, WFP says Israeli airstrikes and repeated evacuation orders have forced the closure of many of its food warehouses and community kitchens. The IDF-designated “humanitarian area” in Gaza has also been steadily shrinking, with a CNN analysis showing that in the past month alone, the IDF has reduced this area by 38%, leaving just over one-tenth of the entire Gaza Strip.
Humanitarian workers normally coordinate routes with the Israeli military to travel in relative safety. “As last night’s events demonstrated, our current deconfliction system has failed and can no longer 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 traveling by car through the Gaza Strip, despite having coordinated their route and itinerary with Israeli authorities. An airstrike hit three cars in their convoy, killing three Britons, a Palestinian, a dual US-Canadian national, an Australian and a Polish national.
U.N. Secretary-General spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a press conference on Wednesday that the WFP aid vehicle that was shot at was clearly marked, and that in conflict zones the WFP logo is “probably one of the most recognizable in the world.”
He said the UN had formally protested to Israel over the incident and highlighted the responsibility of UN member states to protect UN aid workers who serve populations in some of the world’s most dangerous places.
“Whether it’s Gaza, Sudan, Chad or elsewhere or Ukraine, we are not operating at the whims of[Secretary-General]Antonio Guterres in any battlefield,” he said.
“They work on behalf of the United Nations… so to speak, it is the duty of all member states of this organization to ensure the protection of humanitarian workers who work for them.”
Severe hunger, severe water shortages, mass displacement and disease in the Gaza Strip have increased pressure on Hamas, which rules the strip, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire and hostage release agreement.
According to the Health Ministry, at least 40,435 Palestinians have been killed and 93,534 wounded in Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip. Israeli officials said the Israeli military launched air and ground strikes on the isolated enclave after a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7 killed about 1,200 people and abducted more than 250.
This story has been updated.
