Fourteen times aid groups were attacked after giving the IDF their location
November 18, 2023: Israeli forces attacked a convoy of five clearly-marked
MSF vehicles, killing two MSF staff members. MSF had coordinated the
convoy’s movement with Israeli authorities and followed the route
prescribed by the Israeli military. MSF staff members saw no military
targets in the area when they were attacked. MSF requested an
explanation from the IDF but received no response.
December 8, 2023:
The Israeli Navy fired at facilities affiliated with the United Nations
Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) in Rafah with
20mm cannon rounds, damaging the west side of the two buildings. UNRWA
officials had repeatedly shared the coordinates of the buildings with Israeli officials, including on the same day of the attack. Agency staff told
Human Rights Watch that they were unaware of any military targets in
the area. Afterwards, the Israeli military said the attack was carried
out by mistake.
December 16, 2023: An IDF tank fired several rounds
at the Convent of the Sisters of Mother Teresa (Missionaries of
Charity), part of the Holy Family Catholic Parish compound in Gaza. The
attack displaced the 54 disabled people sheltering there, leaving some
without the respirators “that some of them need to survive,” the Latin
Patriarchate of Jerusalem said in a statement.
An aid worker was reportedly injured in the attack. Later that day, an Israeli sniper killed two women sheltering at the church, shooting
one woman as she tried to carry the other to safety. When others in the
church ran toward the women, Israeli snipers shot them too, wounding
several, including two children. Pope Francis condemned the attack, calling it “terrorism.”
Emails between Catholic Relief Services and U.S. Senate staff obtained by Politico
show that Catholic Relief Services (one of the largest Christian aid
organizations operating in Gaza) had provided the coordinates of the two
buildings to Senate staffers, who then relayed that information to the
IDF. The IDF confirmed the location of the buildings that Catholic
Relief Services requested for protection. The aid group also provided
aerial photos of the facilities directly to Israeli authorities. The
Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem Church said they shared their GPS coordinates with the IDF several times before the attack.
December 28, 2023:
A convoy of U.N. aid vehicles were shot at by Israeli forces in central
Gaza as it was returning from delivering aid in the north. The vehicles
were clearly-marked with U.N. insignia, traveling along a route
designated by the Israeli military and had coordinated its plans with
Israeli authorities beforehand.
January 8, 2024: An Israeli tank fired at a clearly-marked MSF shelter in Khan Younis housing more than 100 staff and their family members, killing a five-year-old girl.
MSF had previously notified the IDF of the shelter’s location. Israeli
forces denied that they fired a round at the shelter, but remnants of an
Israeli-made tank shell were discovered right outside the building.
January 18, 2024:
An Israeli airstrike struck a residential compound housing staff from
the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Medical Aid for
Palestinians (MAP) in Al-Mawasi, an Israeli-designated
safe zone. The blast injured several workers and severely damaged the
building. As a result, six emergency medical workers had to leave their posts, and IRC and MAP surgeons suspended their work at Nasser hospital. Forensic evidence suggests the munition used in the attack was a U.S.-made 1,000-pound MK-83 bomb, reportedly
dropped by a U.S.-made F-16 aircraft. British officials had used
high-level diplomatic channels to ensure the compound was deconflicted
with the IDF. A month before the strike, the Israeli military explicitly
reassured
aid staff through text messages that they were safe. “We’re aware of
the location” of the compound, a message from an IDF official read. The
MAP employee then clarified whether the building is still safe. “Yes,”
replied the IDF official.
Israel provided six different — and
often conflicting — explanations for the attack. It said it wasn’t
operating in the area; it said it was attempting to hit a target next to
the MAP-IRC compound; it said it wasn’t actually a bomb but a piece of
the aircraft fuselage. The IDF told The New York Times that they didn’t strike the location at all.
January 31, 2024: Israeli forces bombed the offices of the Belgian development agency, Enabel, completely destroying the building. Handicap International, an NGO, had offices in the same structure. Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib said
that Israeli authorities “knew very well that Enabel’s offices were
located in this building.” Earlier that day, the Belgian government
announced it would not suspend funding for UNRWA, after the Israeli government claimed without evidence that UNRWA staff had participated in the October 7 massacre.
In mid-February, Israeli forces claimed
it had not bombed the Enabel building, but that it was destroyed when
they blew up the building next door for an unspecified military reason.
February 5, 2024:
Israeli ships shelled a clearly-marked UNRWA convoy, damaging one of
the aid trucks. The convoy was stopped at an Israeli-designated holding
point when it was shelled. UNRWA had coordinated the convoy’s movement
with Israeli authorities. As a result of the attack, UNRWA had to pause
its operations in northern Gaza for nearly three weeks, affecting
200,000 people. Israeli authorities later acknowledged the attack and
said it had put in place “prevention measures” to prevent another
incident. The next month, the Israeli government blocked UNRWA from providing any food assistance to northern Gaza.
February 20, 2024:
Two family members of MSF staff were killed when an Israeli tank fired a
shell at a MSF shelter. Seven others, mostly women and children, were
injured. A large MSF flag was clearly visible on the side of the building. Israeli forces provided MSF with no warning before the attack and no explanation afterwards.
March 9, 2024:
An Anera employee was killed in his home along with his six-year-old
son and several neighbors in an Israeli airstrike. The building was registered
with the Israeli military as a “sensitive site.” Email records show
that Anera had repeatedly shared coordinates and photos of the staff
shelter with the IDF, including days before the strike. A
precision-guided munition was likely used in the attack.
April 1, 2024: Multiple precision Israeli drone strikes on a World Central Kitchen (WCK) convoy killed seven
aid workers, including an American citizen. The Washington, DC-based
group had coordinated its route with the IDF beforehand. The vehicles
were struck in a deconfliction zone controlled by the Israeli military.
WCK founder José Andrés said Israeli forces targeted his colleagues “systematically, car by car.” Forensic evidence
backs up Andrés’s claim. “This was not just a bad luck situation where
‘oops’ we dropped the bomb in the wrong place,” Andrés said, pointing to
the fact that it was clearly-marked humanitarian convoy with colorful
WCK logos on the vehicle roofs, and the 1.8 kilometer distance between
the first and the third car in the convoy, each. It was “very clear who
we are and what we do,” he added.
IDF Spokesman Danial Hagari said
WCK had “coordinated everything correctly with the IDF in advance” and
blamed “internal failures.” President Joe Biden said he was “outraged and heartbroken” by the deaths, and called on Israel to investigate itself. But for WCK’s founder, “The IDF cannot credibly investigate its own failure,” Andrés said.
April 9, 2024: A clearly-marked UNICEF aid truck was reportedly hit by Israeli gunfire
south of the Salah Al-Din checkpoint. The vehicle was at a holding
point when it was struck by several bullets coming from the direction of
the Israeli checkpoint. The IDF had approved the convoy beforehand. The Israeli military denied that its troops had fired the shots.
August 27, 2024:
A U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) convoy came under fire near an
Israeli checkpoint at the Wadi Gaza bridge. As the vehicles approached
the checkpoint after receiving multiple clearances to proceed, Israeli
troops opened fire, hitting one WFP vehicle at least ten times. Several
bullets struck the vehicle’s windows, just above the clearly-visible
U.N. insignia and WFP logo emblazoned on the side doors. Israeli
officials blamed a “communication error” for the attack.
August 29, 2024:
An Israeli airstrike on an Anera aid convoy killed four Palestinians as
it was en route to the Emirati Red Crescent Hospital. The route was
coordinated and approved by Israeli authorities. Israeli officials claim
the lead car the IDF struck was carrying many weapons, but there was no
indication that weapons were present. The IDF provided Anera no warning
before carrying out the attack...............
