UN agency hits out as it claims aid convoy was hit by Israeli gunfire

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has criticised the Israeli army after an aid convoy was allegedly shot at in Gaza on Thursday.

It said an armoured car was clearly marked with UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) branding and was hit despite prior coordination with Israel to ensure it would be protected.

The vehicle was one of two returning to the south of Gaza after delivering supplies, including food, to Rimal in Gaza City in the north.

UNRWA director of communications Juliette Touma told Sky News the team came under gunfire just south of Wadi Gaza on Salah al Deen, the main road connecting the north and south of Gaza.

The aid staff “could see it was the Israeli army firing at the cars”, she said.

Thomas White, director of UNRWA affairs Gaza, wrote on X: “Aid workers should never be a target.”

Sky News has contacted the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) with a request to comment.

Mark Regev, senior adviser to Israel’s prime minister, claimed UNRWA’s workers union was under the control of Hamas.

“All the information he [Thomas White] is receiving is information that Hamas wants him to hear,” he told Sky News.

“And we have clear indications that Hamas is desperate for the international community to support a ceasefire because they [Hamas] see Israel’s military operation is moving ahead.

“We’re taking apart Hamas’s military machine, we’re eliminating its senior commanders, and they’re desperate for a ceasefire

“They want to give the feeling there’s a humanitarian crisis, so there’s more pressure on Israel to cease fire, to save themselves.

“We can’t let them succeed in doing that.”

Asked whether there would be an investigation into UNRWA’s claims, he said: “There’s always an investigation. When we have made a mistake, we have admitted it.”

Meanwhile, Mercy Corps vice president Kate Phillips-Barrasso warned aid was desperately needed throughout the bombarded enclave, where half a million people – a quarter of its 2.3 million residents – faced “catastrophic hunger and starvation”.

Some 85% of the population has been displaced by the IDF’s air and ground offensive after Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israel that saw 1,200 people killed.

The conflict has claimed the lives of more than 21,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry.

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Ms Phillips-Barrasso said the amount of lifesaving goods being allowed to enter remains a drop in the ocean, far short from meeting Gazans’ basic and critical needs, even after Israel opened its Kerem Shalom border crossing.

Thursday’s alleged attack on the UNRWA vehicles came despite the agency conducting prior “deconfliction” with the Israeli army to ensure aid cars and personnel are protected on the roads, the UNRWA’s Ms Touma added.

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She told Sky News: “We expect them to be protected. It should not happen. UN personnel and UN vehicles must be protected at all times.”

“Luckily, fortunately, no one was hurt.”

One vehicle was damaged, but made it back to the UNRWA base in the south of Gaza city, she said.

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