Documents show Israeli forces fired on UN food convoy in Gaza: CNN
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CNN has received correspondence between the UN and the Israeli occupation forces indicating that both sides reportedly agreed upon the convoy's path before the bombing.
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A flatbed truck carrying food, part of a UNRWA aid convoy that was struck by Israeli fire en route to northern Gaza on February 5 (Thomas White/UNRWA via X)
On February 5, Israeli occupation forces (IOF) opened fire on a United Nations convoy carrying vital humanitarian aid in central Gaza, eventually blocking the trucks' progress to the northern part, where Palestinians are on the verge of famine, according to documents shared exclusively by the UN and CNN's analysis.
CNN has received correspondence between the UN and the IOF indicating that the convoy's path was agreed upon by both sides before the bombing. According to an internal incident report created by UNRWA, the major UN assistance agency in Gaza, and obtained by CNN, the vehicle was one of ten in a convoy that was stopped at an IOF holding position when it was fired on.
Most of the cargo, primarily wheat flour, which was required to produce bread, was destroyed.
Tracing the Israeli strike reveals the tremendous problems that humanitarian organizations confront in delivering supplies to Gaza's more than 2 million residents due to Israeli siege and obstacles.
About 85% of Gazans are internally displaced, amidst "Israel's" nearly five-month bombing of the Strip.
Juliette Touma, global director of communications for UNRWA, told CNN that the convoy was on its way to "middle areas" before it was hit by Israeli fire.
The IOF claimed on February 5 that it was looking into the incident, one of many where aid convoys were targeted.
Following the strike on February 5, UNRWA decided to suspend delivering convoys to northern Gaza. The last time the organization was allowed to supply food north of Wadi Gaza, a strip of marshes that runs through the strip, was on January 23. The United Nations estimates that 300,000 people continue to live in northern Gaza with no help. According to the UN, acute malnutrition has already been found in 16.2% of youngsters, which is over the critical threshold.
The convoy, which included ten relief trucks and two armored vehicles with UN insignia, began its trek in the early hours of February 5.
The agency stated that before departing to provide supplies, it had worked with the Israeli forces ahead of time, agreeing on the route to be taken - as is customary.
Email exchange between UNRWA and COGAT, the Israeli military organization in charge of monitoring activities in the Palestinian areas and coordinating humanitarian supplies, reveals an agreement for the convoy to use Al-Rashid Road.
Touma detailed how this coordination is referred to as "deconfliction" and ensures convoys are not targeted.
She explained how Gaza "has become very fast one of the most dangerous places to be an aid worker in,” detailing that many workers are forced to deliver aid under fire.
At the time, UNRWA's director, Tom White, posted two photos on X displaying a flatbed truck with a hole where its load had been and boxes of supplies scattered on the road. According to CNN's geolocation of the photographs, the hole was on the side of the truck facing out to sea, indicating that it had been hit by a munition shot from that direction. Hours after the targeting, CNN saw satellite footage that revealed Israeli missile boats some kilometers offshore.
#Gaza this morning a food convoy waiting to move into Northern Gaza was hit by Israeli naval gunfire - thankfully no one was injured@UNRWA pic.twitter.com/1kvShgX6MG
— Thomas White (@TomWhiteGaza) February 5, 2024
“It’s really difficult to see how this could be a legal attack,”
Janina Dill, co-director at Oxford University’s Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict, told CNN the incident conducted by the Israelis was a "very serious violation of international humanitarian law," and could be criminal.
Philippa Greer, UNRWA's lead legal adviser for Gaza, said she was on the convoy when it was hit and wrote on X that the team was "extremely lucky" that no injuries occurred.
The truck then asked permission to travel via an Israeli checkpoint that monitors access into northern Gaza, but it was denied entry.
COGAT alleges that products deemed "harmful" are prohibited from entering following "a process of supervision and control."
A US spokesperson told CNN that the strike was "unacceptable," detailing continued demands to allow workers to "safely distribute assistance and for civilians to be able to access assistance, and for Israel to take all feasible precautions to protect civilians."
'Israel' continues to deny aid into Gaza for a week
The Palestinian Red Crescent has reported that aid has continued to be obstructed by Israeli occupation forces for a week, detailing that the IOF is obstructing the inspection of trucks at the Al-Awja crossing.
"Israel" has been obstructing aid from entering Gaza through Rafah for a week now as the war on the besieged strip continues.
“Because of the level of desperation in Gaza, people would see an aid convoy, they would come to the aid convoy, take the stuff from the aid convoy,” Touma told CNN. “By the time we get the approval, the aid convoy is empty.”
Other routes are blocked owing to debris and craters caused by the indiscriminate Israeli bombing, CNN's satellite imagery indicates. Just weeks before the IOF identified it as the key humanitarian route, al Rashid Road was attacked, leaving a big crater behind.
An image obtained on January 29, 2024, shows a massive crater on al Rashid Road in central Gaza, which was originally apparent in satellite photography from late December. Despite the crater, the IOF designated the beachfront road as the principal route for relief convoys beginning January 4, 2024.
UN food agency cuts aid deliveries to northern Gaza
As part of efforts to phase out supplies of aid to the besieged Strip, the World Food Programme (WFP) on Tuesday announced it had suspended aid supplies to the northern parts of Gaza after a convoy of trucks was reportedly looted.
The agency said that a convoy that was on its way to the north after a three-week halt "faced complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order."
The agency is well aware that food and water are already scarce, and the situation in the Strip exposes "unprecedented levels of desperation," as reported by its teams.
WFP said it planned to deploy trucks of food daily for seven days, but on Sunday the convoy had to 'fend off' the starving residents' attempts to "climb aboard our trucks, then facing gunfire once we entered Gaza City."
