ROME (AP) — An Israeli airstrike last month destroyed the top floor of a Gaza guesthouse housing international staff from the World Food Program, the U.N. agency’s director said Thursday, calling the situation “impossibly dangerous” for aid workers trying to feed the Palestinian population.
The incident occurred on August 31 in the Nuseirat refugee camp, just days after WFP temporarily halted aid deliveries to northern Gaza and halted the movement of staff after the team came under fire at an Israeli checkpoint.
“It was always dangerous. It’s now impossibly dangerous,” McCain said.
The World Food Program is in contact with the Israeli Defense Forces about the attack on the home where 11 UN workers, including 10 WFP workers, were staying. No one was injured and they have been evacuated to Jordan, where McCain met them this week.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
McCain said she has a simple message for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “Ceasefire, please. Ceasefire! Stop! We have to feed these people,” she said. “It’s not just food. … It’s water and sanitation.”
While she and her staff remain committed to their mission in Gaza, “we’re just deciding whether we’re going to stay there,” McCain said. “I want to stay there. I’m not suggesting we pull out. But I have to look at what I’m asking my people to do.”
She stressed how difficult it is to operate in a so-called conflict-free area, while it should be safe for humanitarian workers.
Israeli forces “are attacking places where we are told it is safe, where we are told there is no conflict and where refugees are safe. And that is not the case. It is not,” she said.
