The Israeli navy fired on a United Nations convoy bringing much-needed aid to northern Gaza after Israel approved the route it would take.
The incident, which took place on February 5, was documented by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and confirmed by a CNN investigation published on Wednesday. The attack marked the last time that UNRWA attempted to deliver aid to northern Gaza, where 15.6% of children under two are acutely malnourished. The U.N.’s World Food Program (WFP) also announced on Monday that it was suspending aid to northern Gaza because it could not ensure the “safety and security” of workers or recipients.
“Gaza has become very fast one of the most dangerous places to be an aid worker in,” Juliette Touma, UNRWA’s global director of communications, told CNN.
🛑“#Gaza has become very fast one of the most dangerous places to be an aid worker”@CNN: Israeli forces fired on @UN convoy carrying vital food supplies on Feb 5, before ultimately blocking trucks progressing north, where people are on verge of famine ⬇️https://t.co/miXbJB88Og pic.twitter.com/3zR6iI6kfV
The UNRWA convoy left southern Gaza for the north early on the morning of February 5. It consisted of 10 trucks filled with supplies and two armored vehicles marked with the U.N. logo.
UNRWA said it had confirmed the route, along the Al Rashid Road, with Israel’s COGAT agency, as emails seen by CNN confirm.
“We share with the Israeli army the coordinates of the convoys, and the route of that convoy,” Touma explained to CNN. “Only when the Israeli army gives us the okay, the green light, does UNRWA move. We don’t move without that coordination.”
The convoy reached an IDF holding point in central Gaza at 4:15 am local time; at 5:35 am, after waiting for more than an hour, aid workers........