UN food convoy comes under Israeli artillery fire in Gaza

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – A food convoy came under Israeli artillery fire in the Gaza Strip on Monday, the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) said.

“This morning, a food convoy waiting to move into Northern Gaza was hit by Israeli naval gunfire,” UNRWA’s Gaza chief Thomas White said on X.

No one was injured in the attack.

“We cannot deliver humanitarian aid under fire,” the agency said. “Safe and sustainable humanitarian access is urgently needed everywhere including to the North of Gaza.”

Since Israel’s offensive on Gaza began on Oct. 7, there have been multiple attacks interfering with aid distribution, including a Jan. 25 attack on civilians waiting for humanitarian aid that killed at least 20 people and injured at least 150.

Israel has accused some UNRWA employees of involvement in the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, which Israel says killed nearly 1,140 people.

A number of countries, including Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, Finland, Australia, the UK, Netherlands, the US, France, Austria and Japan, have temporarily suspended financial support to UNRWA due to the Israeli accusations.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for a thorough and immediate investigation into the Israeli accusations.

Israel has launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, killing at least 27,365 Palestinians and injuring 66,630 others.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.