Israel told the United States that a “communication error” led to shots fired by Israel Defense Forces at a U.N. World Food Programme vehicle in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday night, according to Robert Wood, the deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
“We have urged them to immediately rectify the issues within their system,” Wood said at an emergency meeting on Thursday of the U.N. Security Council. “Israel must not only take ownership for its mistakes but also take concrete actions to ensure the IDF does not fire on U.N. personnel again.”
The World Food Programme and its American executive director, Cindy McCain—the widow of former Arizona senator John McCain—reacted furiously after the incident, in which at least 10 bullets struck a U.N.-marked vehicle as it approached an Israeli military checkpoint.
A convoy of two armored vehicles had clearance in coordination with the IDF, the WFP said. No one in the vehicles was hurt, though a photo showed bullet markings on the windows.
The United Kingdom and Switzerland requested the Thursday Security Council meeting to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza, as the World Health Organization prepares to launch a polio vaccination campaign on Sunday following the first confirmed case of the disease in the strip in 25 years.
The meeting was marred by a harsh exchange between Wood and Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s deputy ambassador to the global body.
“You’re more than welcome if you want to sit there and use another opportunity as you do on every occasion to attack the U.S. for this or for that,” Wood said. “We are working, and have worked harder, than your government has at any point to try to end this overall conflict. So my recommendation to you and your government would be, if you’re going to contribute something positively, then contribute it.”
“If not, you should be quiet,” Wood added.
Polyanskiy said that Wood should keep “his recommendations about me or my government to himself, and to finally do what the United States has to do—has an obligation to do—namely, not to prevent or get in the way of the Security Council’s work on resolving the Palestinian-Israeli dossier.”
“Everybody in this chamber is perfectly aware of the fact that the United States precisely bears the brunt of the responsibility of what is currently taking place” in Gaza, and “if my other colleagues do not have the courage to tell you this to your face, I have no problem doing so,” Polyanskiy said.
‘No safe place’
James Kariuki, London’s deputy U.N. ambassador, told the Security Council that he welcomes Israel’s agreement with Hamas and the World Health Organization to implement area-focused daily humanitarian pauses during the vaccination drive.
He urged Israel to give more notice ahead of evacuation orders in Gaza because citizens there have “no safe place to turn.”
The Parisian envoy said the increasing evacuation orders in Gaza were “untenable.”
Nicolas de Rivière, the French ambassador to the United Nations, said he was urging the Jewish state to ensure a “non-negotiable” start to the polio vaccination campaign and to implement an “effective deconfliction system, through humanitarian pauses” to increase safety during the drive.
Geng Shuang, the Chinese envoy to the global body, said on Thursday that polio “knows no orders,” urging Israel to provide security guarantees during the vaccination campaign.
By doing so, Israel would be acting in “a responsible manner towards its own children and those of the region,” he said.
Geng was harshly critical of Israel’s increasing anti-terror operations in Judea and Samaria, as Jerusalem looks to root out growing Iran-backed threats in the region.
Senior Israeli officials, including Foreign Minister Israel Katz, have called for voluntary temporary evacuations of Palestinian Authority residents in order to facilitate safer operations by the IDF in the area—a move some critics say aims to displace Arabs.
“China opposes any rhetorical actions that fuel tensions, condemns all attacks on civilians and calls on all the parties concerned, Israel in particular, to remain calm and exercise restraint and prevent further escalation of the situation,” Geng said.