The convoy, on its way to help with a campaign to vaccinate thousands of Palestinian children against polio, was stopped at a checkpoint connecting central and northern Gaza, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Sept 10, because Israeli soldiers wanted to question two Palestinian staff.
The situation escalated quickly, he said, and soldiers pointed their weapons directly at the UN staff in the convoy.
As the polio vaccination campaign began in northern Gaza on Sept 10, Mr Dujarric said the Sept 9 incident was the latest example of "the unacceptable dangers and impediments that humanitarian personnel in Gaza are experiencing".
He said the UN convoy had been quickly "encircled by Israeli forces, and shots were fired".
"The convoy was then approached by IDF (Israel Defence Force) tanks and bulldozers, which proceeded to ram the UN vehicles from the back and front, compacting the convoy with UN staff still inside," Mr Dujarric said.
"One bulldozer dropped debris on the first vehicle, while Israeli soldiers threatened staff, making it impossible for them to safely exit their vehicles," he said.
When asked to respond to the UN account on Sept 10, the Israeli military said the convoy was stopped after the military received intelligence indicating a number of "Palestinian suspects" were aboard whom it wanted to question.
"We emphasise that the convoy was for a UN personnel rotation, and not a convoy transporting polio vaccines. Israeli security forces questioned the suspects in the field and then released them. The convoy returned to the southern Gaza Strip," it said.
Mr Dujarric said Israeli soldiers questioned two of the staff, but the UN made sure it was done in front of the convoy vehicles and other UN personnel.
"After 7ยฝ hours at the checkpoint, the convoy returned to base," he said. "This incident - and the conduct of Israeli forces on the ground - put the lives of our staff in danger."
The incident came two weeks after the UN World Food Programme (WFP) temporarily suspended movement of its employees in Gaza, saying at least 10 bullets had struck one of its clearly marked vehicles as it approached an Israeli military checkpoint.
Israel told the US that an initial review found that shots were fired at the WFP after a "communication error" between Israeli military units, the deputy US envoy to the UN told the Security Council two days after the incident.
Comment: The go-to excuse for any attack on aid being delivered in Gaza.
WFP resumed employee movements after receiving assurances from Israel that it would provide an investigation report on the incident and review the military's coordination with the UN and aid groups, a senior WFP official said on Sept 10.
"That review is ongoing," Ms Corinne Fleischer, WFP's regional director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe, told reporters on Sept 10, but she added that WFP was yet to receive an investigation report on the shooting.
Reader Comments
Obviously they were carrying the uncontaminated polio shots. IDF can't allow that. Goes against the sterilization program.
The programmed orthodoxy is deep. Many people do not have the mental faculty or humility to change.
Itโs a zhit zhow zircus crisis of orthodoxy to change people or they will destroy their creations of orthodoxy with a kinetic & nuclear WWlll which would include Israhell & Zewkraine.
I've seen it in young and old in the U.S. and Canada and there is no use trying to discuss the issue with them because any words that might contradict their closely held beliefs is heresy and they just block it out.
Combine that part of our population with the Zionists in powerful positions and you've got a powerful political force that will not stop until Armageddon has been achieved, the third temple built and whatever else is supposed to happen at the end of the world.
Don't hate them and do not hate Jerusalem, that's God's land. I believe it's the old site of Eden.