Jake Johnson
Common Dreams / January 6, 2025
“This unacceptable event is just the latest example of the complex and dangerous working environment that WFP and other agencies are operating in today,” said the United Nations agency.
The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) said Monday that Israeli forces opened fire on one of the organization’s aid convoys at a checkpoint in central Gaza over the weekend, an attack that the organization condemned as “horrifying.”
“This unacceptable event is just the latest example of the complex and dangerous working environment that WFP and other agencies are operating in today,” the organization said in a statement, noting that the convoy was “clearly marked” and that it had “received all of the necessary clearances from Israeli authorities” prior to Sunday’s attack.
“Security conditions in Gaza must urgently improve for lifesaving humanitarian assistance to continue,” WFP said, urging “all parties to respect international humanitarian law, protect civilian lives, and allow safe passage for humanitarian aid.”
At least 16 bullets struck the WFP convoy on Sunday, but none of the eight staffers traveling in the three vehicles that came under Israeli attack on Sunday were killed or wounded, WFP said.
It was nonetheless a “terrifying encounter” that underscored the dangers facing aid workers attempting to deliver food and other necessities to starving and desperate people across the Gaza Strip.
Last year was the deadliest on record for aid workers around the world, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, with Israeli attacks in Gaza fuelling a surge in killings.
Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said in an October speech to the U.N. Security Council that Gaza is “the most dangerous place in the world for aid workers.”
Sunday wasn’t the first time Israeli forces have fired on a WFP convoy in Gaza during their 15-month assault on the Palestinian enclave. Last August, the WFP was forced to temporarily halt employee movements in Gaza after Israeli soldiers fired on one of the U.N. agency’s vehicles.
Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, said Monday that WFP is “trying to get the answers” from Israeli forces on why they once again fired on an aid convoy, an attack that came as a new round of cease-fire talks began in Doha, brokered by Qatar and Egypt.
“I don’t think there’s an explanation for shooting at a clearly marked convoy from the World Food Program, whose movements had been completely coordinated with the Israeli security forces,” said Dujarric.
Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams
