In its latest attack on an international organization, Israel targeted a WHO convoy.
The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus condemned Israel’s targeting of a convoy managed by the international organization in Gaza labeling the attack as “unacceptable.”
In a statement issued by WHO’s director-general posted on X, Ghebreyesus said that “on the way back from a mission to the northern Gaza and after a WHO-led convoy got clearance and crossed the coast road checkpoint, the convoy encountered two Israeli tanks. Shots were fired from the tanks near the convoy.”
The director-general stressed nonetheless that no one was hurt during the Israeli occupation army attack.
“Luckily nobody was hurt,” he said.
Last Saturday, on the way back from a mission to the northern #Gaza and after a @WHO-led convoy got clearance and crossed the coast road checkpoint, the convoy encountered two Israeli tanks. Shots were fired from the tanks near the convoy. Luckily nobody was hurt.
This is… pic.twitter.com/jDstTVatyv
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) September 17, 2024
Ghebreyesus revealed that despite the “security risks” WHO’s teams had “remarkably” managed to reach Al-Shifa hospital to deliver supplies for the emergency room as well as supplies to the Palestine Red Crescent Society facilities in the north “including for the treatment of noncommunicable diseases.”
“The teams also facilitated the rotation of emergency medical teams,” he emphasized.
Ghebreyesus accentuated the critical role humanitarian aid workers play in the service of Palestinians in Gaza.
“Amid extreme danger and life-threatening conditions, the unwavering humanitarian workers in Gaza continue to deliver critical aid, serving as the last hope for the survival for 2 million people in desperate need,” the statement read.
He emphasized nonetheless, the need for a safe environment for aid workers to conduct their work.
“The minimum they deserve for their service is safety,” he said.
“The deconfliction mechanism needs to be adhered to,” he concluded with a request for a ceasefire.
This is unacceptable: #WHO chief #TedrosGhebreyesus condemns Israeli tank fire on #Gaza aid convoy.#IsraelPalestineConflict https://t.co/xz0CGbToq0
— National Herald (@NH_India) September 18, 2024
Systematic Policy of Attacks
The attack on WHO’s convoy is not the first as many other international organizations have endured similar attacks by Israeli occupation forces while on humanitarian missions in the besieged Gaza Strip.
A UN convoy was stopped at gunpoint by Israeli forces in Gaza September 9 and held for more than eight hours, the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has said.
The incident occurred “despite prior detailed coordination,” Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA’s Commissioner General said on X, adding that the convoy “had both national & international staff traveling to roll out the polio vaccination campaign” for children in Gaza City and northern Gaza.
“The convoy was stopped at gunpoint just after the Wadi Gaza checkpoint with threats to detain UN staff,” he stated.
‘Latest in Series of Violations’ – UN Convoy Stopped at Gunpoint by Israel in Gaza, Held for Hours
Earlier in August, the American Near East Refugee Aid (Anera) announced that an Israeli airstrike had targeted the lead vehicle of their aid convoy on August 29, killing four Palestinians while on a mission to transport food and fuel to the Emirati Red Crescent Hospital in the Gaza Strip.
The US-based organization said in a statement that its aid mission was undergoing according to a “coordinated and cleared transport plan,” which “called for unarmed security guards in the convoy, adhering to Anera’s strict standing agreement with ‘Move One’, our transit company.”
Ongoing Genocide
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 41,252 Palestinians have been killed, and 95,497 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(PC, Anadolu)
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