On Monday, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said Israeli forces fired on one of the group’s aid convoys in Gaza and strongly denounced the attack.
The WFP said the convoy was “clearly marked” and that 16 bullets struck three vehicles that were carrying a total of eight aid workers. None of the aid workers were hurt in the attack.
The WFP said the aid convoy had obtained the necessary clearances to operate in the area.
“ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE: A [WFP] convoy, clearly marked & carrying 8 team members, was shot at by Israeli forces near Wadi Gaza despite prior clearances,” Cindy McCain, the executive director of the WFP, wrote on X.
“We MUST have safe, secure access to continue delivering life-saving aid,” McCain, the widow of Senator John McCain, added in her post.
The Israeli military has targeted aid workers throughout its genocidal war on Gaza. The WFP said the latest attack came after a missile struck a flour distribution warehouse in central Gaza run by a UN aid partner over the weekend, seriously injuring three humanitarian workers.
The incident that gained the most attention was the Israeli strike that killed seven workers for the World Central Kitchen on April 1, 2024. The strike killed six foreign aid workers, including three British citizens and one American.
Israel’s targeting of Palestinian aid workers has gotten much less attention. The UN’s Palestinian relief agency, UNRWA, said on Saturday that 263 of its employees have been killed by Israeli forces since October 7, 2023.
