The attack, which Israel claimed was a “gross violation” of military procedures, sparked global outrage and prompted President Biden to call on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take immediate steps to expedite aid or the U.S. announced that it would reevaluate its support for Israel. . Additionally, the process for de-escalating humanitarian conflicts with Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip is flawed, putting staff at risk, pervasive mistrust, and preventing life-saving aid from reaching hungry civilians there. He also emphasized that aid workers claim that there are no more.
Over the past six months, humanitarian organizations such as Médecins Sans Frontières and the United Nations Relief Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) have come under attack on aid convoys and buildings, despite sharing routes and coordinates with Israeli authorities. published at least nine reports. in advance. Nearly 200 Palestinian aid workers have died, according to Humanitarian Outcomes, an organization that tracks aid worker deaths.
“What is becoming increasingly clear is that the deconfliction process is a fiction,” said Ciaran Donnelly, senior vice president of the International Rescue Committee in Gaza. “We do not guarantee safety.”
Since the beginning of the conflict, when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, Israeli authorities have cut off water, electricity, fuel and other supplies to the Gaza Strip and vowed to limit aid to the Gaza Strip. Under pressure from the United States, Israel began allowing aid trucks into southern Gaza on October 21, as the military attacks the north.
But in recent months it has slashed supplies to northern Gaza, and the world's leading agency on food emergencies says starvation may already have begun. These restrictions, along with worsening security conditions, further complicate efforts by the United Nations and others to get aid to people in need.
Interviews this week with U.S. and United Nations officials, former Israeli military commanders and aid agency officials revealed a dangerous, opaque and inefficient system for coordinating aid delivery. It is disconnected from the reality on the ground.
On the humanitarian side, the process is primarily carried out by specialized UN units, with UN agencies and other organizations submitting coordinates of humanitarian facilities such as offices, clinics, warehouses, and guesthouses.
Aid officials say the process for notifying the Israeli military about aid workers' movements around Gaza varies depending on the aid worker's destination. The United Nations shares regularly updated maps based on battlefield dynamics. Aid organizations are also encouraged to share a rough outline of their travel plans in advance in areas where there is not believed to be active fighting.
But a more complex level of coordination is required in the Gaza Strip, where fighting continues between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants. Nareen Ahmed, medical director of health nonprofit MedGlobal, said organizations submit origin and destination coordinates, as well as details of vehicles, drivers and passengers in the convoy, at least one day in advance of planned travel. said it was necessary. This year it's Gaza.
The UN then sends that information to COGAT, the branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) responsible for coordinating with aid agencies, which shares the information with relevant Israeli forces and responds with a map of the approved route. I am supposed to do it. Convoy.
But this is where aid groups say they have little insight into this process or how the information passed to COGAT ultimately reaches ground forces, drone operators and fighter pilots.
“It's the million-dollar question and I've been trying to figure it out for 15 years,” said Scott Anderson, who has worked in UNRWA's office in the Gaza Strip on and off since 2008. There is clearly a disconnect. ”
According to retired brigadier general Gen. Amir Abibi, former deputy commander of the IDF's Gaza Division, COGAT representatives are embedded in each brigade and “ensure that this coordination is reflected in the battle map.” He is tasked with “making it happen.”
But a lack of trust between the IDF, the United Nations and other aid agencies is affecting deconfliction routes, said Grisha Yakubovich, a retired Israeli colonel who served as COGAT's civil affairs director until 2016.
He said that during past conflicts in Gaza, COGAT met with UN officials almost every day to discuss plans for the next 24 hours.
“I think things are even more complicated now,” he said, citing the Israeli military's reluctance to cooperate with UNRWA. Israeli authorities have accused UNRWA of infiltrating Hamas, a charge the agency denies.
The UN's internal watchdog is investigating Israeli claims that more than a dozen UNRWA personnel took part in the October 7 Hamas attack.
UNRWA announced in February that Israeli naval shelling had hit one of its food convoys and said it had “notified all aid convoys and is coordinating all movements with Israeli authorities.”
Previously, in November, a Médecins Sans Frontières convoy on a deconfliction route in northern Gaza was hit by sniper fire, killing a volunteer and a relative of a staff member, the organization said. elements point to the responsibility of the Israeli military.” This attack requires an army. ”
And last month, a logistics coordinator for American Near East Refugee Assistance (ANERA) was killed in an Israeli bombing raid on the home where he and his family had taken refuge. That's despite the property's coordinates being repeatedly shared with the IDF, Sean said. Carol, president of the organization.
The IDF did not respond to requests for comment on the Médecins Sans Frontières convoy, but said in a statement that the incident involving ANERA was “under review.”
In response to an earlier request for comment on the UNRWA convoy, the IDF said the attack “was not aimed at the convoy,” adding that “the incident was investigated and conclusions and lessons were drawn accordingly.” .
Aid workers have cited the following problems: lack of direct contact with Israel's Southern Forces, which oversees Gaza; Delays at checkpoints on the north-south route. and communication infrastructure within the territory is poor.
Aid workers are not allowed to bring radio equipment. Instead, they have been forced to rely on satellite phones during their advance into Gaza, which do not always work.
“We have been asking for direct contact with the IDF and the provision of communication equipment for many months, and only now have we been able to do so since the incident.” [Monday] Jamie McGoldrick, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Palestinian Territories, said:
Some aid organizations, including World Central Kitchen (WCK), are working with Israeli authorities bilaterally rather than through the United Nations system, McGoldrick said.
In a New York Times op-ed, WCK founder José Andrés said that during its wartime operations in Israel and Gaza, the group had “extensive contacts with Israeli military and civilian officials.” ” he said.
WCK said that prior to Monday's attack, the team had been coordinating with Israeli military authorities and had received permission to travel along the coastal route. An Israeli investigation into the WCK attack found that the operator of the drone that was tracking the convoy was not informed of the coordinated plan.
The targets of the airstrike were confirmed only by sightings of armed men, but the IDF claimed this was an insufficient standard.
Abibi said the current war is far more intense and complex than previous battles.
“We must remember that Hamas does not wear uniforms, as it fights in hospitals, schools and United Nations premises. Hamas drives civilian vehicles. Terrorists and civilians “It's very difficult to differentiate,” he said.
An Israeli Defense Force official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security issues, said the rules for engagement and targeting during the war remained the same as in previous conflicts, and that troops on the ground were not given the go-ahead for airstrikes. He said he does not have the same authority. themselves.
But Emily Tripp, director of the civilian casualty watchdog group Air Wars, said the Israeli Defense Force's tolerance for civilian casualties is at a level accepted by other militaries in past operations in Gaza and in recent conflicts. It seems to be much higher than that.
At least 33,000 people have died in Gaza since the conflict began, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel said 13,000 of the dead were militants, and Gaza health authorities said 70% of the casualties were women and children.
Israel has repeatedly attacked hospitals and used large bombs to blow up high-rise apartment buildings.
The WCK attack has struck a nerve in Washington, and Mr. Biden, who considers Mr. Andres a friend, issued a sharp statement Tuesday, saying that one of the aid workers killed was Jacob Flickinger, 33. He pointed out that he was an American.
“Their deaths are a tragedy,” Biden said Tuesday of the WCK employees, calling for an “immediate” public investigation to “hold accountability.”
“More tragically, this is not an isolated incident,” Biden said. “This conflict has been one of the worst in recent memory in terms of the number of aid worker deaths.''
This situation has caused the fury of the Pentagon, given WCK's position as a force for good and WCK's professionalism and familiarity in handling such missions, according to the Department of Defense, which has made the matter confidential. He spoke on condition of anonymity due to his gender.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Tuesday opened a “Joint Situation Room” for coordination between the IDF's Southern Command and international organizations, which will “allocate appropriate resources and create a distribution mechanism,” according to a statement from the Prime Minister's Office. He promised to support.
“We've been talking over the last 24, 36 hours about what we need, and there's been more acceptance of those issues,” McGoldrick, the U.N. aid coordinator, said Wednesday. “We hope that by reviewing the situation now, we can prevent something from happening again.”
Israel on Thursday announced measures to step up aid delivery to Gaza, including the opening of new border crossings.
The IDF announced on Friday that two officers had been dismissed following the WCK attack and three others, including the Southern Command commander, were being “formally disciplined.”
The family of Australian aid worker Lalzaumi Francom, a WCK worker who was killed in Monday's strike, this week called on Israel to investigate war crimes. Separately, attacks on humanitarian workers form part of South Africa's genocide case against Israel, which is being heard at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. However, such legal proceedings can take years.
WCK said in a statement Friday following the Israeli investigation that the disciplinary action represents “an important step forward.” But he added, “Without systemic change, there will be more military failures, more apologies and more families left to grieve,” calling for an independent investigation.
Steve Hendricks, Dan Lamott and Kate Brown in Washington, Kareem Fahim in Istanbul, Michael E. Miller in Sydney and Lior Soroka in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.
