Israeli army prevents UN convoy from reaching Gaza Strip

The Israeli army on Monday stopped a UN convoy en route to the northern Gaza Strip, where staff were scheduled to provide polio vaccinations to local children, the UN agency for Palestine refugees said on Tuesday, reported Xinhua.

Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said on social media platform X that the Israeli army stopped the convoy for more than eight hours despite prior detailed coordination.

Lazzarini added that the convoy, comprising both local and international staff, was heading to Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip to implement a polio vaccination campaign.

"The convoy was stopped at gunpoint immediately after the Wadi Gaza checkpoint, with threats to detain UN staff," he said, noting that bulldozers caused "significant damage to UN armored vehicles."

He pointed out that Israeli forces later released all the employees and the convoy, and they returned safely to the UN base, noting that it cannot be confirmed whether the polio vaccination campaign will proceed in northern Gaza on Tuesday.

Lazzarini called the incident "the latest in a series of violations against UN staff, including shootings at convoys and arrests by the Israeli Armed Forces at checkpoints despite prior notification."

The Israeli army said in a press statement that its forces stopped the UN convoy because of "intelligence information indicating the presence of a number of Palestinian suspects inside the convoy."

The army said that the convoy was not transporting polio vaccines, but was instead aimed at exchanging personnel between UN employees, adding that "the incident is not over yet."

A polio vaccination campaign has been underway in the Gaza Strip. The UN had previously sent 1.2 million doses of oral polio vaccines for about 640,000 children in the enclave, with each child from birth to the age of 10 receiving two doses.

In mid-August, the Gaza Strip recorded its first case of polio in 25 years, occurring in the city of Deir al-Balah.