Hamas fired at UN team working on new Gaza aid corridor — Israeli military liaison

Hamas gunmen opened fire on United Nations teams working to set up a new humanitarian aid corridor in southern Gaza over the weekend, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) says.

COGAT says it received a report over the weekend from UN representatives that during work to open a new route for aid trucks from Kerem Shalom Crossing to the Israeli-designated “humanitarian zone” in the Strip’s south, “armed Hamas terrorists threatened and deliberately fired at a UN team operating at the site and forced them out of the work area.”

“It was also reported that the terrorists took over UN vehicles and used them to place a sand barrier on the route in order to prevent future movement of aid trucks into the humanitarian area,” COGAT says.

According to COGAT, the Defense Ministry body in charge of coordinating aid to Gaza, the new route is part of humanitarian efforts amid the IDF’s offensive in Gaza City. It was scheduled to open in the coming days to “increase the number of aid trucks reaching the humanitarian area, including food, medical equipment, tents, and shelter supplies, in line with the population moving south from Gaza City for their protection.”

COGAT chief Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, in a statement, says: “Hamas proves time and again that it has no interest in the well-being of the residents of the Gaza Strip, but only in its terrorist motives.”

“Even as the State of Israel works together with the UN and international organizations to expand the scope of humanitarian aid, Hamas is desperate to thwart this, thereby once again abandoning the residents it claims to represent and enslaving them to ensure its survival,” he adds.

The shooting against the UN teams in southern Gaza comes after on Friday, COGAT said Hamas gunmen “brazenly robbed” four UNICEF aid trucks carrying baby formula in Gaza City a day prior.