Israel unleashes attack on guards escorting aid convoy; 12 die
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Gaza: Israel unleashed an attack on Palestinian security guards who escorted a humanitarian aid shipment in the war-torn Gaza strip and killed at least 12 while injuring dozens on Thursday, Al Jazeera reported.
Reuters reported that at least 30 people were injured, leaving several of them in critical condition. The attack happened in the southern part of the enclave, west of Khan Younis, and was clearly targeting the civilian guards who secured the transport of the aid.
Local media from Palestine aired videos that showed bodies stacked in a morgue.
Al Jazeera reports that the attack was only the latest among a series of attacks on humanitarian aid workers, convoys and those trying to assist the safe entry of food and other supplies to Gaza. The enclave is reeling under the weight of food shortages, medical emergencies and fears of famine.
An Israeli military’s ground operation and siege have been going on for several weeks in northern Gaza.
Humanitarian aid to North Gaza, where Israel launched a ground offensive on October 6, has been mostly barred for 66 days, according to the United Nations. According to the UN, between 65,000 and 75,000 Palestinians now lack access to food, water, electricity, or health care.
In the north, Israel has continued its siege on Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Jabaliya, with Palestinians living there largely denied aid, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, known as OCHA, said on Tuesday. Recently, it said, about 5,500 people were forcibly displaced from three schools in Beit Lahiya to Gaza City.
Adding to the food crisis, only four UN-supported bakeries are currently operating throughout the Gaza Strip, all of them in Gaza City, OCHA said, PTI reported.
Sigrid Kaag, the senior UN humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, told reporters after briefing the UN Security Council behind closed doors Tuesday afternoon that civilians trying to survive in Gaza face an “utterly devastating situation.” She pointed to the breakdown in law and order and looting that has exacerbated a very dire situation and left the UN and many aid organizations unable to deliver food and other humanitarian essentials to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in need.