2024-09-10 20:49:51
Humanity is increasingly at risk. A UN conference known as such, to participate in the polio vaccine campaign, took place under fire for several hours on Monday in Gaza by the Israeli army who shot several times, the spokesman for the Secretary General denied on Tuesday that UN.
The delegations of several UN agencies, including the agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) “were stopped by the Israeli army” at the al-Rashid checkpoint even though he had all the necessary authorizations, assured Stéphane Dujarric.
“The situation quickly deteriorated”
The group of 12 UN officials “were told that the Israeli army wanted to question two members of the convoy,” he said. “The situation quickly escalated, with the soldiers pointing their guns directly at our personnel in the convoy, the UN vehicles were surrounded by Israeli soldiers and shots were fired.”
Israeli tanks and a bulldozer then approached, “hitting the UN vehicles in front and behind, crowding the convoy,” Stéphane Dujarric added, noting that the workers could not get out of the vehicles safely.
“The inventory returned to its base without being able to carry out its humanitarian mission”
“The convoy was held at the checkpoint while UN officials contacted the Israeli authorities to try to defuse it” and “after seven and a half hours at the checkpoint, the convoy returned to its base without being able to carry out its humanitarian mission, ” he cursed again. “It could have turned into a disaster,” he insisted.
“The behavior of the Israeli army on the ground puts the lives of our workers at risk,” the spokesman said, lamenting an incident that was “a new example of unacceptable risks and obstacles” to humanitarian operations in Palestinian territory.
UN vehicles have already been hit by gunfire
In late August, a World Food Program vehicle was shot several times at another Israeli military checkpoint in Gaza. And it is not the first time that fire has attacked UN vehicles since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas caused by an unexpected attack by the Islamist group of Palestine on October 7.
In June in particular, a UN worker from India was killed when his vehicle crashed.
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