Cairo:

Two aid workers were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza on Saturday, with Israel saying it had killed an operative who took part in the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel and who it said was employed by a US-based charity.

The first was a World Central Kitchen member, who was hit in a vehicle in Khan Younis in Southern Gaza. The Israeli military said that he had taken part in the attack on Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel and was under surveillance but did not offer any evidence.

Reuters could not independently verify whether he took part in the attack last year.

The family of the man, Ahed Azmi Qdeih, said the Israeli allegations were false and meant to justify his unlawful killing. They said he was an engineer who dedicated his life to charitable work.

World Central Kitchen confirmed the airstrike and said it had no knowledge about an employee involved in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack.

“We are heartbroken to share that a vehicle carrying World Central Kitchen colleagues was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza,” it said in a statement posted on X. “World Central Kitchen had no knowledge that any individual in the vehicle had alleged ties to the October 7th Hamas attack.”

The charity group said it was pausing operations in Gaza, adding that it was working with incomplete information and was urgently seeking more details. The official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that three employees of the charity were killed in the strike, with medics saying a total of five people were killed.

Hamas did not immediately comment.

Later in the day, international aid agency Save the Children also said in a statement that a 39-year-old staffer, who it identified as Ahmad Faisal Isleem Al-Qadi, was killed in an airstrike in Khan Younis.

It was unclear if the two men were killed in the same strike. Israel has not immediately commented on Save the Children’s statement.

“There are not strong enough words to express the grief and outrage we feel at the loss of Ahmad in an Israeli airstrike. He was a valued member of our team and loved by all who met him,” Inger Ashing, the Save the Children chief executive, said in the statement.

In another attack in Khan Younis, medics said at least nine Palestinians were killed when an Israeli airstrike hit a car near a crowd receiving flour, a vehicle that was used by security personnel tasked with overseeing aid deliveries into Gaza.

The Israeli military says that it does not target civilians and accuses Hamas of operating from civilian facilities and using Gaza’s population as human shields, which the group denies.

At least 32 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes across the enclave overnight and into Saturday, Gaza medics said, including seven killed in a strike on a house in central Gaza City, according to Gaza officials.

New Ceasefire Efforts

Meanwhile, leaders of Hamas were expected to arrive in Cairo on Saturday for ceasefire talks with Egyptian officials, days after Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon, two officials of the group told Reuters.

The visit is the first since the United States announced earlier this week it would revive efforts in collaboration with Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza.

The Hamas delegation is expected to meet with Egyptian security officials to explore ways to reach a ceasefire deal with Israel that could secure the release of hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners.

Progress before now has been limited in a series of on-off talks over months.

Hamas is seeking an agreement that would end the war while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that the war will end only when Hamas is eradicated.

Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 44,382 people and displaced nearly all of the enclave’s population at least once, Gaza officials say. Vast swathes of Gaza lie in ruins.

The conflict was triggered more than 13 months ago when Hamas-led operatives attacked southern Israeli communities, killing about 1,200 people and abducting over 250 hostages, according to Israeli officials.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Palestinians inspect a vehicle in which employees of the World Central Kitchen (WCK) were killed in an Israeli strike, according to WAFA, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, November 30, 2024.
| Photo Credit: STRINGER

U.S. charity World Central Kitchen (WCK) said Saturday (November 30, 2024) it was “pausing operations in Gaza at this time” after an Israeli air strike hit a vehicle carrying its workers.

The Israeli military confirmed that a Palestinian employee of WCK was killed in a strike, accusing the worker of being a “terrorist” who “infiltrated Israel and took part in the murderous October 7 massacre” last year.

WCK in a statement said it “had no knowledge that any individual in the vehicle had alleged ties to the October 7 Hamas attack” and did not confirm any deaths.

Earlier Saturday (November 30, 2024), Gaza civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that five people were killed, including “three employees of World Central Kitchen”, in the strike in the main southern city of Khan Yunis.

“All three men worked for WCK and they were hit while driving in a WCK jeep in Khan Yunis,” Bassal said, adding that the vehicle had been “marked with its logo clearly visible”.

WCK confirmed a strike had hit its workers, but added: “At this time, we are working with incomplete information and are urgently seeking more details.”

The Israeli army statement said representatives from the unit responsible for overseeing humanitarian needs in Gaza had “demanded senior officials from the international community and the WCK administration to clarify the issue and order an urgent examination regarding the hiring of workers who took part in the October 7 massacre”.

It also said its strike in Khan Yunis had hit “a civilian unmarked vehicle and its movement on the route was not coordinated for transporting of aid”.

In April, an Israeli strike killed seven WCK staff – an Australian, three Britons, a North American, a Palestinian and a Pole.

Israel said it had been targeting a “Hamas gunman” in that strike, but the military admitted a series of “grave mistakes” and violations of its own rules of engagement.

The U.N. said last week that 333 aid workers had been killed since the start of the war in October of last year, 243 of them employees of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

Palestinian militants’ October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,207 people, most of them 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.

US charity World Central Kitchen said Saturday it was “pausing operations in Gaza at this time” after an Israeli air strike hit a vehicle carrying its workers.

The Israeli military confirmed that a Palestinian employee of WCK was killed in a strike, accusing the worker of being a “terrorist” who “infiltrated Israel and took part in the murderous October 7 massacre” last year.

WCK in a statement said it “had no knowledge that any individual in the vehicle had alleged ties to the October 7 Hamas attack”, and did not confirm any deaths.

Earlier Saturday, Gaza civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that five people were killed, including “three employees of World Central Kitchen”, in the strike in the main southern city of Khan Yunis.

“All three men worked for WCK and they were hit while driving in a WCK jeep in Khan Yunis,” Bassal said, adding that the vehicle had been “marked with its logo clearly visible”.

WCK confirmed a strike had hit its workers, but added: “At this time, we are working with incomplete information and are urgently seeking more details.”

The Israeli army statement said representatives from the unit responsible for overseeing humanitarian needs in Gaza had “demanded senior officials from the international community and the WCK administration to clarify the issue and order an urgent examination regarding the hiring of workers who took part in the October 7 massacre”.

It also said its strike in Khan Yunis had hit “a civilian unmarked vehicle and its movement on the route was not coordinated for transporting of aid”.

In April, an Israeli strike killed seven WCK staff — an Australian, three Britons, a North American, a Palestinian and a Pole.

Israel said it had been targeting a “Hamas gunman” in that strike, but the military admitted a series of “grave mistakes” and violations of its own rules of engagement.

The UN said last week that 333 aid workers had been killed since the start of the war in October of last year, 243 of them employees of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

Palestinian militants’ October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,207 people, most of them 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 NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)