UN details attack on its convoy in Gaza involving Israeli tanks, bulldozers

A convoy of clearly marked armoured UN vehicles in besieged Gaza was encircled and held at gunpoint by Israeli forces, the United Nations has said, adding Israeli tanks and bulldozers rammed into some vehicles during the eight-hour torment.

The convoy, on its way to help with a campaign to vaccinate thousands of Palestinian children against polio on Monday, was stopped at a checkpoint connecting central and northern Gaza, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday.

Israeli soldiers claimed they wanted to question Palestinian staff members but the situation escalated quickly, Dujarric said, and soldiers pointed their weapons directly at the UN staff.

Dujarric said the incident was the latest example of "the unacceptable dangers and impediments that humanitarian personnel in Gaza are experiencing."

He said the UN convoy had been quickly "encircled by Israeli forces, and shots were fired."

"The convoy was then approached by IDF (Israeli military) tanks and bulldozers, which proceeded to ram the UN vehicles from the back and front, compacting the convoy with UN staff still inside," Dujarric said.

"One bulldozer dropped debris on the first vehicle, while Israeli soldiers threatened staff, making it impossible for them to safely exit their vehicles," he said.

UN mission in crosshairs

Israeli army claimed the convoy was for a UN personnel rotation, and not a convoy transporting polio vaccines. "Israeli Security Forces questioned the suspects in the field and then released them. The convoy returned to the southern Gaza Strip," it said.

Dujarric said Israeli soldiers questioned the two staff members, but the UN made sure it was done in front of the convoy vehicles and other UN personnel.

"After seven-and-a-half hours at the checkpoint, the convoy returned to base," he said. "This incident – and the conduct of Israeli forces on the ground – put the lives of our staff in danger."

The incident came two weeks after the UN World Food Programme temporarily suspended movement of its employees in Gaza, saying at least 10 bullets struck one of its clearly marked vehicles as it approached an Israeli military checkpoint.

WFP resumed employee movements after receiving as surances from Israel that they would provide an investigation report on the incident and review the military's coordination with the UN and aid groups, a senior WFP official said on Tuesday.

'We're two million zombies living on our own'

Meanwhile, a UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian Territories has said that Palestinians in blockaded Gaza feel they are "zombies" left to fend for themselves.

"'We're two million zombies living on our own. All the ties are broken.' This is how the people of Gaza see themselves," Muhannad Hadi, UN Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said on Tuesday, citing a Palestinian he met during one of his many trips to Gaza.

Hadi was in Brussels for a series of meetings with European officials as the EU's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, was on a visit to the region, including Egypt and Lebanon.

"So anything that you take for granted, or anything you took for granted, or you worked for yesterday in your life, it's not there for the people of Gaza, for the majority of the people of Gaza," Hadi said during a visit to Brussels.

He added that "a lot of people have nothing to eat", noting that many had no access to electricity or even a bed.

Around 90 percent of Gaza's population has been displaced, and the ongoing Israeli bombardment and invasion, now nearly a year long, has severely strained health services.

Most children have missed their regular immunisations, leaving them vulnerable to infections.