Australian former reporter, now aid worker, shot at in Gaza

A West Australian former reporter now working for the United Nations Children’s Fund is lucky to be alive after being shot at in Gaza.

Tess Ingram, who worked for the Australian Financial Review’s Perth bureau and then this masthead before moving to New York to work for the United Nations in 2022, was in a UNICEF vehicle waiting to enter the north of Gaza when it was hit by live ammunition.

The three UNICEF and UNRWA cars were in convoy on a coordinated mission to deliver fuel to water wells in the north, and lifesaving nutrition and medical supplies to Kamal Adwan Hospital.

They left Rafah after some delays, got to a holding point before the checkpoint at Wadi Gaza, to a designated holding point where UN vehicles are made to wait until the checkpoint is ready to receive them, Ingram told Al Jazeera.

“We were waiting there when gunfire broke out in the vicinity,” she said.

“The gunfire came from the direction of the checkpoint towards civilians, who then ran away from the checkpoint, and the gunfire hit us. We were really lucky. We had some colleagues outside of the car checking a mechanical problem with the nutrition truck when the fire broke out, and they had to run back to our armoured vehicle. Fortunately, they were safe.

“But three bullets hit the car that I was in right on my passenger door the window and also the bonnet of the car. So this is just another example of how unsafe it is for humanitarian aid workers and how missions like these are made impossible.”

UNICEF said in a statement that the incident had been raised with Israeli authorities.

“Sadly, humanitarians continue to face risks in delivering lifesaving aid. Unless humanitarian aid workers are protected, in accordance with [international humanitarian law], humanitarian aid cannot reach people in need,” it said.

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