IDF says troops fired warning shots at UN convoy on Friday due to miscommunication

The Israel Defense Forces responds to claims that soldiers in the Gaza Strip opened fire at a United Nations aid convoy last week, saying the troops fired warning shots because they were not aware that the vehicles were due to pass them.

Citing an investigation into Friday’s incident, the IDF Spokespersons Unit says in a statement to The Times of Israel that after the UN humanitarian convoy finished delivering aid to shelters in northern Gaza, it was asked by the military to go via a different route back south.

“This was to maintain its safety given the fighting that was taking place near the area,” the IDF says.

It says troops in the area were not aware of the change of the route, and “as a result, when the vehicles arrived, the troops on the ground acted to stop [the convoy] in a procedure that included a warning shot that was not aimed at the vehicles.”

“When the vehicles stopped, the shooting stopped,” the IDF says, adding that there were no casualties but shrapnel from the warning shots hit one of the vehicles.

The IDF says it has drawn lessons from the investigation of the incident, “in order to prevent such cases from happening again.”

It says the open-fire regulations and conduct of troops with regard to humanitarian aid convoys “were sharpened.”

“Since the beginning of the war, the IDF has been working in close coordination with the international aid agencies operating in the Gaza Strip and has coordinated hundreds of humanitarian movements in very complex combat conditions,” the IDF adds.