Israeli Military’s Airstrike on Gaza Aid Convoy Sparks Controversy Over ‘Armed Assailants’ Claim

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) recently carried out an airstrike on a humanitarian aid convoy in Gaza, claiming the attack targeted “armed assailants” attempting to hijack the convoy. However, the charity organizing the aid, the US-based NGO Anera, reported that those killed were actually employees of the transportation company it was working with.

The convoy, organized by Anera, was transporting medical supplies and fuel to an Emirati-run hospital in Rafah on Thursday evening. The route had been coordinated with the IDF under a deconfliction process designed to prevent aid vehicles from being targeted. Sandra Rasheed, Anera’s Palestine country director, expressed shock over the incident, stating that although an Anera employee in the convoy was unharmed, several employees of the transport company were tragically killed in the first vehicle.

In a statement, the IDF confirmed that the convoy’s route had been coordinated but claimed that armed assailants had seized control of the lead vehicle, a Jeep. The IDF stated that after verifying the situation, a precise strike was carried out on the vehicle to remove the threat, ensuring no damage was caused to the other vehicles in the convoy, which then reached its destination as planned. The IDF also mentioned it had contacted Anera following the incident, and the aid organization confirmed that all convoy members and humanitarian aid reached their destination safely.

Anera, however, clarified that only one person in the convoy was an Anera employee and the others were employees of a partner transport company, whose name was not disclosed. Rasheed emphasized the urgency of obtaining further details about the incident.

This airstrike followed an earlier incident the same day when Israeli soldiers opened fire on a World Food Programme (WFP) vehicle marked with UN insignia, which was traveling in a convoy of two vehicles. The WFP vehicle was hit by at least ten bullets near an IDF checkpoint at Wadi Gaza. The vehicle, equipped with reinforced glass, ensured that no one inside was injured. Nonetheless, the WFP temporarily suspended the movement of its staff around Gaza. Cindy McCain, head of the WFP, condemned the shooting as “totally unacceptable,” criticizing the failure of the current deconfliction system.

Additionally, on April 1, the IDF killed seven aid workers in a drone attack on a convoy run by the World Central Kitchen charity. The IDF later admitted to “grave errors” by its officers, resulting in the firing of two officers. Despite being informed of the planned convoy in advance, the IDF claimed that the information had not been relayed to operational units. An investigation suggested that an officer mistakenly thought he saw a gunman on the roof of a truck being escorted by the charity’s vehicles, based on unclear surveillance footage, but no evidence of a gunman was found.