UN says lives of staff endangered in Israeli halt of Gaza polio vaccine convoy
Israeli soldiers halted a UN convoy involved in the recent polio vaccination drive in Gaza and detained two staff members for questioning, in an incident during which live shots were fired and vehicles damaged by a bulldozer, the UN has said.
Details of the incident, which occurred at the Al Rashid checkpoint, were revealed in a statement by the office of the UN humanitarian coordinator for Palestine, Muhannad Hadi, who said the lives of UN staff in the vehicles had been endangered.
He said a convoy of 12 UN staff members “whose movement was fully coordinated with Israel Defense Forces, and whose details were shared with them in advance, was stopped on its way to North Gaza to support the third phase of the Gaza Strip-wide polio vaccination campaign” on Monday.
According to the statement: “While at the checkpoint the team was informed that the IDF wanted to hold two of the UN staff members in the convoy for further questioning.
