“Humanitarian workers are there to help innocent civilians, and Israel must ensure they are protected,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller wrote on X. US Deputy Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood confirmed that Jerusalem had informed Washington that the shots were fired due to a miscommunication within the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
Wood further stated during a Thursday UN Security Council meeting on Gaza, “We have urged them to immediately rectify the issues within their system.”
As of Friday afternoon, the IDF and other Israeli officials had yet to formally comment on the incident. On Wednesday, the WFP announced the suspension of employee movements across Gaza after at least 10 bullets struck one of its marked vehicles near the Wadi Gaza bridge. No injuries were reported.
In a separate event, the IDF reported striking a group of gunmen who had hijacked an aid convoy in southern Gaza.
The convoy, coordinated by the American Near East Refugee Aid (Anera) organization, entered the Rafah area with IDF coordination.
The IDF claimed that armed men took control of a vehicle at the front of the convoy, leading to a strike that targeted only the hijacked car.
The rest of the convoy reached its destination without further incident.
Reports from the Guardian and Washington Post suggested that five people were killed during the strike, though it remains unclear if the victims were gunmen or civilians.
Anera’s Palestine Country Director, Sandra Rasheed, confirmed that while an Anera employee was unharmed, several individuals working for a partner transport company were killed in the attack.
“This is a shocking incident,” Rasheed stated. “The convoy was coordinated and approved by Israeli authorities. Tragically, several individuals in the first vehicle of the convoy were killed.”
The situation in Gaza remains tense, with Israel previously criticized for striking humanitarian convoys.
In April, the IDF mistakenly targeted a World Central Kitchen aid convoy, resulting in the deaths of seven aid workers.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, and caused widespread destruction and displacement.
Israel also faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered a halt to military operations in the southern city of Rafah. The order has gone unheeded, however.