‘Dozens killed or injured’ in Israeli strikes on known Gaza aid locations

Israeli forces have killed and injured dozens of humanitarian aid workers, including British citizens, in eight strikes on aid convoys and shelters where coordinates were shared with Israel to ensure their protection, according to research by The Independent and a new probe by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Israel forces did not issue warnings before the strikes, which killed or injured at least 31 people including several children HRW’s report alleges. The New York-based rights group identified eight different incidents in total, including the 1 April drone strike on a World Central Kitchen convoy which killed seven aid workers. They concluded the eight strikes, which killed at least 15 people including two children, were likely unlawfully indiscriminate or failed to take sufficient precautions to ensure the target was military. The hits also massively impacted the distribution and coordination of aid – at a time when Gaza faces famine.

The report corroborated testimonies gathered by The Independent show that in several instances British doctors and aid workers were present and even killed or wounded by the strikes. Those strikes have included naval shelling and drone strikes. At least one instance took place in a so-called humanitarian zone, al-Mawasi.

The Israeli military has yet to reply to request for comment about the specific instances, but said “the humanitarian effort is a central part of the IDF’s operational activity, the IDF works in order to prevent harm to humanitarian teams.”

However, heads of aid agencies and UN officials told The Independent a coordination system supposed to protect aid workers was “clearly failing” and there needed to be dramatic change.

HRW said the “pattern of attacks despite proper notification of Israeli authorities" raises serious questions about Israel’s commitment and capacity to comply with international humanitarian law. It concluded that Israel’s allies like the US and the UK – whose weapons were apparently used in the attacks they documented – should suspend military assurances and arms sales to Israel.

“Israel’s killing of seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers was shocking and should never have happened under international law,” said Belkis Wille, associate crisis, conflict, and arms director at HRW.

“Israel’s allies need to recognise that these attacks that have killed aid workers have happened over and over again, and they need to stop.”

Jan Egeland, the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, told The Independent that in total more than 250 aid workers have been killed since October “which we have never seen before.”

“It’s a world record, we have seen before. Gaza is the most dangerous place for human for aid workers in recent memory,”

Tess Ingram, from the United Nations child agency, Unicef, who was herself in a UN convoy carrying aid to north Gaza that was coordinated with the military but came under fire, said the system of deconfliction was “clearly failing”.

"What happened to WCK was tragic but it’s not an isolated incident. We need to know that when we get a safety assurance for a mission, it will be facilitated, that it will be safe, and that we can trust those safety assurances. At the moment, it’s clear that the coordination system is not being respected.”

Israel launched its heaviest ever bombardment of Gaza, plus a ground assault and a blockade, in retaliation for a bloody attack by Hamas on 7 October during which around 1,200 people were killed and another 250 taken hostage, including toddlers.

Since then, Palestinian health workers say Israel’s bombardment has killed at least 35,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children. Among the dead are more than 220 aid workers, including 190 UN personnel.

Most recently, the first foreign UN security staff member was killed on Monday when a UN-marked vehicle travelling to the European hospital in Rafah was struck, a spokesperson said. Separately, the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, reported that another of its staff members, a 53-year-old senior projects officer was killed on Sunday in an Israeli strike in the central town of Deir Al Balah, after leaving Rafah.

UNRWA officials told The Independent that they have registered 349 incidents impacting its premises and internationally displaced people sheltering in and around them - which they said resulted in the killing of at least 408 IDPs (including at least 15 children and seven UNRWA staff). They said strikes from both sides had impacted 30 UNRWA health centres, seven warehouses, six aid distribution centres and 261 of their schools.

While facts surrounding many incidents remain under verification, UNRWA said the information so far available indicates the “vast majority of incidents” were due to attacks and actions undertaken by Israeli forces.

These attacks are having a chilling effect on efforts to provide lifesaving aid in Gaza.

HRW said it has identified eight attack which took place between 18 November and 1 April, including an attack on a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) convoy, guest house and shelter, attacks on two UNRWA convoys and a guest house, an attack on International Rescue Committee and Medical Aid for Palestinian (MAP) shelter and an attack on a home sheltering an employee for aid group ANERA.

The Independent has separately interviewed staffers and witnesses, who corroborated the findings in HRW’s report.

On January 18 - Aseel Baidoun from MAP told The Independent the Israeli military hit a residential compound housing their Emergency Medical Team (EMT) and members of MAP’s local team and their family members in Al Mawasi – the alleged ‘safe zone’ – in Gaza despite the compound being submitted to the deconfliction process. MAP said British government personnel had also confirmed on 22 December that the compound was registered as a "sensitive site". Since then, an independent assessment by the UN has concluded that the damage was the result of an airstrike, most likely involving a weapon only owned by the Israeli military.

The attack injured several team members, caused significant damage to the building, and required the withdrawal of the six international members from Gaza, forcing the organisation to suspend life-saving medical work at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

Aseel Baidon from MAP said that since the attack, Israel had provided six different explanations as to why the airstrike took place, from the Israeli military being unaware of what happened; to denying involvement, to accepting responsibility for the strike but asserting this was a mistake caused by a defective tail fin on the missile that was fired; to blaming the hit on a piece of aircraft fuselage.

“The variety of responses highlights a continued lack of transparency regarding what occurred,” she said.

”It is clear from this experience that the Israeli military and government are either unable or unwilling to properly investigate this serious incident.”

She said the UK and the US as current suppliers of arms and munitions to Israel and "have a particular responsibility to hold Israel accountable for this and other attacks on aid workers and civilians.”

UNRWA officials told The Independent that three of their aid convoys have been hit by Israeli fire – including a 5 February incident where naval gunfire punched a hole in a UNRWA aid truck which was flanked by marked UN vehicles that were waiting at a previously agreed holding point for permission to proceed north.

“The three incidents involved UNRWA personnel on the way in or out of the north of Gaza. Twice as Israeli gunfire, the third incident in February was by the Israeli navy,” said Juliette Toma, UNRWA’s director of communications.

In every instance of a convoy, the GPS coordinates of the routes are shared, as are the names and nationalities of the members, the content of the convoy, the vehicle details, estimated arrival and departure time, Toma said. The convoy is also in constant communication with the Israeli army, she added.

The Israeli military has yet to reply to a request for comment about the attacks on UNRWA. The Israeli military has told CNN that it is looking into the February 5 incident.

HRW also documented a February 20 attack on an MSF guest house in al-Mawasi neighbourhood identified as a humanitarian zone by Israel. The coordinates were also shared with the Israeli authorities. HRW concluded that an Israeli tank fired a medium to large-calibre weapon at the multi-floor apartment building housing 64 people, only MSF staff and their families.

The attack killed two people and injured seven others. MSF alleged that the weapon was an Israeli tank shell. It said that staff saw no military objects in the area at the time and received no warning.

ANERA aid organisation alleged an Israeli strike hit the building in al-Zuwaida sheltering Mousa Shawwa, their supply and logistics coordinator despite the coordinates also being shared with the military.

“We did not receive any warning from the Israelis before the attack,” Mr Shawwa’s wife Doaa told HRW. “This is the thing that upsets me the most. My husband works for an American organisation and the Israelis knew we were there. They should have sent us a message to warn us to get out. Why didn’t they?”

Tess Ingram from Unicef, said she was in an aid convoy coordinated with the Israeli military that was heading north on 11 April. They were asked to pull into a holding area at the Wadi Gaza checkpoint in the centre of the besieged strip, when they came under gunfire from the direction of the Israeli checkpoint.

Ingram said that three bullets hit her car, one on the side window, one at the door and the third on the bonnet of the car. She survived as she was in an armoured car.

In the end they had to turn the convoy around.

“We have only had five missions to the north of Gaza this year as Unicef, which is nowhere near enough and they weren’t large convoys,” she said

“There’s an ongoing problem with the number of coordinated missions that are being facilitated, let alone the dangers and delays faced on missions that are facilitated.” She added.

The Independent reached out to the Israeli military for comment about this incident. The military said “after an operational examination by the commanders, it appears that the IDF forces who were closest to the area were not within firing range of the convoy at the time and place indicated and it was found that no fire was carried out at the vehicle by the IDF forces as described in the question.”

Human Rights Watch has said that governments – including the UK – that continue to provide arms to the Israeli government risk complicity in potential war crimes. It urged them to instead use their leverage, including through targeted sanctions, to press Israeli authorities to cease such strikes and enable the provision of humanitarian aid and basic services in Gaza.

“On one hand, Israel is blocking access to critical lifesaving humanitarian provisions and on the other, attacking convoys that are delivering some of the small amount that they are allowing in,” HRW’s Wille said. “Israeli forces should immediately end their attacks on aid organisations, and there should be accountability”