[News] Israeli airstrike on humanitarian aid convoy leaves five dead

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 Israeli airstrike on humanitarian aid convoy leaves five dead

The convoy was carrying medical supplies and fuel and was attacked just
hours after Israeli forces opened fire on a World Food Programme vehicle as
well

News Desk <https://thecradle.co/authors/news-desk-9>

AUG 30, 2024 -
https://thecradle.co/articles/israeli-airstrike-on-humanitarian-aid-convoy-leaves-five-dead
Trucks of Egyptian Red Crecent carrying humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip
cross the Rafah border gate, in Rafah, Egypt, October 21, 2023. (Photo
credit: Mohammed Asad/AP)

The Israeli military carried out airstrikes on a humanitarian aid convoy in
Gaza on 29 August, killing five employees of the transport company working
with the US-based aid group that organized it, *The Guardian *reported
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/29/israel-airstrike-aid-convoy-gaza>
on 30 August.

The convoy was organized by the NGO Anera. It was carrying medical supplies
and fuel to an Emirati-run hospital in Rafah, a city on the Gaza–Egypt
border.

Its route had been coordinated in advance with the Israeli military under a
deconfliction process intended to prevent aid vehicles from being bombed.

Anera’s Palestine country director, Sandra Rasheed, told *The Guardian*,
“This is a shocking incident. The convoy, which was coordinated by Anera
and approved by Israeli authorities, included an Anera employee who was
fortunately unharmed.”

“Tragically, several individuals, all employed by the transportation
company we work with, were killed in the attack. They were in the first
vehicle of the convoy,” Rasheed added.

The Israeli military confirmed the route had been coordinated but claimed
its forces struck armed men seeking to hijack the convoy.

Just hours before the airstrike, Israeli soldiers opened fire on a World
Food Programme (WFP) vehicle clearly marked with UN insignia. Israeli
forces fired 10 bullets into the windows of the vehicle as it approached an
army checkpoint in the Wadi Gaza area.

Because the vehicle was armored with reinforced glass, none of the
passengers were killed or injured.

Cindy McCain, the head of the WFP, called the shooting “totally
unacceptable.”

On 1 April, the Israeli military killed seven aid workers in a drone attack
on a convoy run by the US-based World Central Kitchen (WCK) charity in Deir
al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

The Israeli drone bombed the convoy as it left a WCK warehouse. The victims
included Palestinian Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha; Britons John Chapman,
James Kirby, and James Henderson; dual US-Canadian citizen Jacob
Flickinger; Australian Lalzawmi Frankcom; and Polish citizen Damiam Sobol.

On 29 February, Israeli forces killed
<https://thecradle.co/articles-id/23804> over 100 Palestinians seeking to
receive aid from a humanitarian convoy.

Testimonies gathered from Palestinians who survived the “flour massacre”
describe Israeli forces opening fire indiscriminately on the crowd, causing
those gathered to flee and trucks to drive away. Doctors at Gaza hospitals
report that most of the injured had gunshot wounds, suggesting most of the
dead were killed by Israeli gunfire.

*+972 Magazine* quoted
<https://www.972mag.com/gaza-aid-convoy-massacre-testimonies/> the
testimony of Abdel Jalil al-Fayoumi, 22, whose cousin was shot in the head
and killed by Israeli fire at the convoy. Fayoumi explained that the aid
trucks arrived just before sunrise and were swarmed by the crowd. “I
couldn’t see the truck; I just saw its lights and people rushing toward
it,” Fayoumi continued.

“Suddenly, intense gunfire erupted from the Israeli tanks. I got separated
from my uncle and cousin. I didn’t know what was happening; I just wanted
to survive and escape. Everyone was screaming and fleeing. There were
bodies on the ground and wounded people crying for help.”
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