The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) temporarily suspended movement of its employees across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, claiming at least 10 bullets struck one of its clearly marked vehicles as it approached an IDF checkpoint, Reuters reported.
WFP said in a statement that a convoy of two armored vehicles received "multiple clearances by Israeli authorities to approach" the Wadi Gaza bridge checkpoint on Tuesday evening. Bullets hit one of the vehicles, but no one in it was hurt, said WFP.
"Though this is not the first security incident to occur during the war, it is the first time that a WFP vehicle has been directly shot at near a checkpoint, despite securing the necessary clearances," the organization said.
The IDF said in a statement on Wednesday that the incident was under review. "The State of Israel is committed to improve coordination and security with humanitarian organizations to ensure the effective delivery of aid within the Gaza Strip," the IDF stressed.
This past April, seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen (WCK) were killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza. IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said after the strike that it was a case of misidentification and the strikes were not meant to harm WCK workers.
The IDF later dismissed two officers and formally reprimanded senior commanders after an inquiry into the incident.
As a result of the fatal air strike, WCK temporarily halted its food distributions in Gaza, but resumed those distributions about a month later.
Australia, whose citizen was among the seven WCK workers killed in the strike, conducted its own probe of the strike, and recently blamed "serious failures to follow procedures" by IDF personnel for the April incident.