UN: Israeli troops threaten vaccination convoys in Gaza with gunfire

A UN convoy carrying staff to Gaza for a vaccination campaign was threatened with gunfire at an Israeli military checkpoint on Tuesday, a UN spokesman said, before the vehicle was hit by a bulldozer.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said Wednesday that the shooting was "the latest example of unacceptable dangers and obstacles imposed by Israeli forces against humanitarian personnel in Gaza."

Mr Dujarric added that a UN convoy carrying 12 staff members was heading to the northern Gaza Strip to support the first round of polio vaccination. He stressed that in order to avoid conflict, the UN organization's "operations are fully coordinated with the Israeli army and all (operation) details are informed in advance." But when the convoy arrived at the checkpoint, the Israeli army wanted to detain two UN staff members for questioning.

The situation on the ground quickly escalated after UN personnel refused Israeli demands. Dujarric said: "The soldiers pointed their weapons directly at the people in the convoy, the UN vehicle was surrounded by Israeli forces and there was shooting... Israeli tanks and a bulldozer then approached the convoy and rammed the UN vehicles from both sides, crowding UN staff into the convoy.

"A bulldozer threw rubble on the first vehicle, while Israeli soldiers threatened the staff so that they could not leave the vehicle safely."

Dujarric said the convoy was still being held at gunpoint and that senior U.N. officials were trying to defuse the bilateral conflict with Israeli authorities. In addition, two UN staff members who were interrogated by Israeli forces and held at checkpoints for seven and a half hours have been released.

The World Health Organization said an aid convoy was also intercepted by Israeli forces on Tuesday, forcing it to abandon some of its vaccine supplies.

Since the outbreak of a new round of Israel-Kazakhstan conflict in October last year, Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip have caused large-scale casualties and triggered a serious humanitarian crisis. On August 22, the World Health Organization said the Gaza Strip had its first case of polio in 25 years, a 10-month-old boy.

The warring parties began a three-day ceasefire in the central, southern and northern Gaza Strip on 1 September to allow for the first round of polio vaccinations for 640,000 children.