‘Israel’ attacking aid groups despite prior coordination spells intent
Despite repeated attacks on aid workers, the White House has still not reevaluated its support for the Israeli occupation.
Israeli airstrikes have been the leading cause of death in the humanitarian sector over the past 11 months, Responsible Statecraft reported. Of the 378 aid workers killed globally since October 7, over 75% were in Gaza or the West Bank, making 2023 the deadliest year on record for aid workers.
An example of the danger includes an Israeli airstrike on September 11, 2023, targeting a school in Nuseirat used as a shelter, which resulted in 18 deaths, including six UNRWA aid workers—one of the deadliest incidents for that organization during the war on the Strip.
Despite prior coordination with the Israeli forces, aid organizations have been repeatedly targeted. MSF has experienced direct attacks, including a tank shell explosion in their Khan Younis facility that killed two and injured six. MSF's Secretary-General criticized the attacks as either intentional or recklessly incompetent.
The Biden administration is aware of this issue, as noted in a report to Congress that detailed "concern" regarding "Israel’s military operations on humanitarian actors. Despite regular engagement from humanitarian actors and repeated USG interventions with Israeli officials on deconfliction/coordination procedures, the IDF has struck humanitarian workers and facilities," citing that alleged commitment from the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) to avoid such targeting, "those changes did not fully prevent subsequent strikes involving humanitarian workers and facilities.”
Despite repeated attacks on aid workers, the White House has still not reevaluated its support for the Israeli occupation, authorizing more than 2,000 bombs to "Israel" the same day 7 charity workers, including an American national, were killed.
The administration has just expressed declarations of concern, without taking any action. This lack of accountability is demonstrated by a list of 14 assaults on relief worker sites where groups had warned Israeli authorities of their presence and were operating in designated "safe zones", yet were nonetheless targeted. The Biden administration has not held "Israel" responsible for any of these occurrences.
Responsible Statecraft detailed 14 times aid groups were targeted despite informing the IOF of their coordinates and being clearly identified as civilians.
- On November 18, 2023, five plainly identified MSF trucks were hit, killing two staff members. MSF had coordinated the convoy's movement with Israeli officials and followed the Israeli military's approved path.
- On December 8, 2023, the Israeli Navy fired 20mm cannon rounds at UNRWA facilities in Rafah, causing damage to the west side of two structures despite officials communicating the structure's coordinates including on the day of the strike.
- On December 16, 2023, an IOF tank fired at the Convent of the Sisters of Mother Teresa in Gaza, displacing 54 disabled residents and leaving some without essential respirators. An aid worker was injured in the attack. Later, an Israeli sniper killed two women at the church and wounded several others, including children. Pope Francis condemned the attack as "terrorism". Catholic Relief Services had provided the coordinates and aerial photos of the buildings to the IOF and US Senate staff for protection, and the Latin Patriarchate of al-Quds had also shared GPS coordinates with the IOF before the attack.
- On December 28, 2023, a convoy of UN assistance vans in downtown Gaza was shot at as they returned from providing supplies in the north. The trucks were identified with UN insignia, were moving along an Israeli military-designated route, and had previously coordinated their activities with Israeli authorities.
- On January 8, 2024, an Israeli tank opened fire on an identified MSF shelter in Khan Younis that housed over 100 staff and family members, killing a 5-year-old. MSF had already informed the IOF of the shelter's location. Israeli soldiers denied firing, however, traces of an Israeli-made tank shell were located directly outside the facility.
- On January 18, 2024, "Israel" hit a residential compound housing staff from the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), injuring 7 workers, severely damaging the building, and forcing six emergency medical workers to leave their posts and surgeons to suspend operations at Nasser hospital. The munition used was identified as a US-made 1,000-pound MK-83 bomb dropped by a US-made F-16. The IOF provided 6 conflicting explanations for the attack despite messages from the Israeli military a month prior reassured the aid staff of their safety.
- On January 31, 2024, "Israel" destroyed the offices of the Belgian development agency Enabel. Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib confirmed that Israeli officials knew Enabel's whereabouts, while the IOF claimed the building was destroyed as collateral damage.
- On February 5, 2024, Israeli warships bombarded an identified UNRWA convoy at an Israeli-designated holding point, injuring one vehicle and shutting down UNRWA activities in northern Gaza for about three weeks, affecting 200,000 people.
- On February 20, 2024, an Israeli tank shell hit an MSF shelter, killing two family members of MSF staff and injuring seven others, mostly women and children. Despite a large MSF flag on the building, Israeli forces gave no prior warning or explanation for the attack.
- On March 9, 2024, an Israeli airstrike killed an Anera employee, his six-year-old son, and several neighbors in their home, which was registered with the Israeli military as a “sensitive site”. Anera had previously provided the IOF with coordinates and photos of the shelter.
- On April 1, 2024, multiple Israeli drone strikes targeted a World Central Kitchen (WCK) convoy, killing seven aid workers, including an American. IOF spokesperson Daniel Hagari attributed the incident to “internal failures", while President Joe Biden expressed "outrage" and urged an investigation with no follow-up.
- On April 9, 2024, an Israeli gunfire hit a clearly marked UNICEF aid truck south of the Salah Al-Din checkpoint while it was stopped at a holding point. The IOF had approved the convoy in advance but later denied responsibility for the attack.
- On August 27, 2024, Israeli troops fired on a UN World Food Programme (WFP) convoy near the Wadi Gaza bridge, despite the convoy having received clearances. One WFP vehicle was hit multiple times, including through windows marked with U.N. and WFP logos. Israeli officials attributed the incident to a “communication error".
- On August 29, 2024, an Israeli airstrike targeted an Anera aid convoy on its way to Emirati Red Crescent Hospital, killing four Palestinians. The aid convoy that was struck had previously coordinated its route with the IOF under a "deconfliction process", which prevents aid trucks from being bombed but was nevertheless targeted by an Israeli airstrike under claims of its members being "armed assailants".
UN staff, teachers fear being targeted by IOF after UN-school massacre
A senior official from the United Nations expressed concern on Saturday that UN employees and teachers in Gaza now fear being targeted after the massacre committed by "Israel" in a school sheltering forcibly displaced Palestinian families earlier this week.
On Wednesday, the Israeli occupation army bombed the UN al-Jaouni School in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing 18 people, including six members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
According to the Gaza Media Office, the massacre at al-Jaouni School marks the 47th carried out by the occupation in the Nuseirat camp, which is currently home to over a quarter of a million residents and forcibly displaced individuals.
"One colleague said that they're not wearing the UNRWA vest anymore because they feel that that turns them into a target," the organization's senior deputy director Sam Rose told AFP in an online interview on Saturday after visiting the bombed shelter in aNuseirat.
The UN coworkers had gathered in a classroom for a meal after work when the Israeli strike demolished part of the building, reducing it to a scorched pile of rubble.
"A son of one of the staff had brought a meal into the building," Rose said.
The occupation army claimed responsibility for the airstrike, alleging it was a "precision strike" against Resistance fighters.
Rose mentioned that the Israeli remarks further demoralized the UN staff still present at the school, where thousands of Palestinians have taken refuge.
The ongoing Israeli genocidal war has forcibly displaced at least once nearly all of Gaza's 2.4 million population.