2 UNICEF vehicles come under fire in Gaza

ANKARA

Two vehicles belonging to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) were shot at in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the agency said.

“Two clearly marked UNICEF vehicles were hit with live ammunition today while waiting at a designated holding point near the Wadi Gaza checkpoint,” Adele Khodr, UNICEF Regional Director for Middle East and North Africa, said on X.

The cars “were en route to reunite five children, including a baby, with their father,” she added.
Khodr noted that one vehicle was struck by three bullets. No injuries were reported.

“The team managed to proceed with the mission and safely deliver the children,” the UN official said.

She confirmed that this was the second shooting incident involving UNICEF cars on humanitarian duty in Gaza in the past 12 weeks. Khodr did not provide information about the perpetrators of the attack.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

Over 39,000 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and nearly 90,000 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over nine months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio