The IDF late Monday night announced it had detained a UN team from a caravan of humanitarian vehicles, including arresting some terror suspects who had embedded themselves within the caravan at a northern Gaza checkpoint.
According to the IDF, it had received intelligence that terrorists might have concealed themselves within the caravan.
Despite some earlier reports that the trucks were carrying polio vaccines, the military said the vehicles were not connected to the vaccination project for Gaza and were just facilitating changing over UN personnel at various locations in Gaza. However, UNRWA officials later offered a conflicting account.
It was unclear why there was a discrepancy regarding the purpose of the UN caravan, though the politics surrounding the polio vaccination is highly sensitive from a number of different angles.
The IDF said that it was continuing to question the detained suspects.
UNRWA official disputes IDF claims
Commissioner-General of UNRWA Philippe Lazzarini later commented on the incident on social media, claiming that the IDF had stopped the personnel for over eight hours.
The Israeli Army stopped a UN convoy on its way to northern #Gaza for more than eight hours today (Monday) despite prior detailed coordination.The convoy had both national & international staff traveling to roll out the #polio vaccination campaign for children in Gaza city and…
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) September 9, 2024
"The convoy had both national & international staff traveling to roll out the #polio vaccination campaign for children in Gaza city and northern Gaza," the UNRWA official claimed. "The convoy was stopped at gun point just after the Wadi Gaza checkpoint with threats to detain UN staff. Heavy damage was caused by bulldozers to the UN armoured vehicles.
"All staff & convoy are now released & back safely in the UN base.
"We are not able to confirm whether the polio campaign will take place tomorrow, (Tuesday) in northern Gaza."