US charity World Central Kitchen said on Saturday it is “currently ceasing operations in Gaza” after an Israeli airstrike hit a vehicle carrying workers.
The Israeli military confirmed that a Palestinian employee of WCK was killed in a strike, accusing the employee of being a “terrorist” who “infiltrated Israel and took part in the murderous massacre of October 7” last year.
WCK said in a statement that it was “not aware that any individual in the vehicle was associated with the October 7 Hamas attack,” and did not confirm any deaths.
Earlier Saturday, Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for Gaza's civil defense, told AFP that five people, including “three workers from World Central Kitchen”, were killed during the strike in the main southern city of Khan Yunis.
“All three men worked for WCK and they were hit while driving a WCK jeep in Khan Yunis,” Bassal said, adding that the vehicle was “marked with a clearly visible logo.”
WCK confirmed that a strike had affected workers, but added: “At this time we are working with incomplete information and are urgently seeking more details.”
The Israeli military statement said that representatives of the unit responsible for monitoring humanitarian needs in Gaza had “asked senior officials of the international community and the WCK government to clarify the issue and initiate an urgent investigation.” orders regarding the recruitment of workers who took part in the October 7 action. massacre”.
It also said the attack in Khan Yunis “hit an unmarked civilian vehicle and its movement on the route was not coordinated for the transportation of aid.”
In April, an Israeli attack killed seven WCK personnel: an Australian, three British, a North American, a Palestinian and a Pole.
Israel said it targeted a “Hamas gunman” in that attack, but the army admitted a series of “serious mistakes” and violations of its own rules.
The UN said last week that 333 aid workers have been killed since the war began in October last year, including 243 staff from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
Palestinian militants' attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,207 people, most of whom were civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed 44,382 people in Gaza, according to figures from the territory's health ministry, which the United Nations considers reliable.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Our staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
