Israeli Strike Kills Aid Workers in Gaza

Food aid organization World Central Kitchen said that an Israeli strike killed seven of its workers in the Gaza Strip.

"World Central Kitchen is devastated to confirm seven members of our team have been killed in an IDF strike in Gaza," the US-based charity said in a statement.

It added that those killed were "from Australia, Poland, United Kingdom, a dual citizen of the US and Canada and Palestine."

The aid organization also announced it was "pausing our operations in the region".

Since the October start of the war, World Central Kitchen has been involved in relief efforts, including supplying meals to hunger-stricken Gaza.

It is one of two NGOs spearheading efforts to deliver aid to Gaza by boat from Cyprus and was also involved in the construction of a temporary jetty.

The NGO said its team was traveling in a "deconflicted" area in a convoy of "two armored cars branded with the WCK logo and a soft skin vehicle" at the time of the strike.

"Despite coordinating movements with the IDF, the convoy was hit as it was leaving the Deir al-Balah warehouse, where the team had unloaded more than 100 tons of humanitarian food aid brought to Gaza on the maritime route," it said.

Earlier, the Gaza health ministry had said the bodies of four foreign aid workers and their Palestinian driver were brought to the hospital in the central town of Deir el-Balah after an Israeli strike targeted their vehicle.

Hamas said in a statement that the aid workers included "British, Australian and Polish nationalities, with the fourth nationality not known" and that the fifth person killed was a Palestinian driver and translator.

Since Hamas's October 7 attack, Gaza has been under a near-complete blockade, with the United Nations accusing Israel of preventing deliveries of humanitarian assistance to 2.4 million Palestinians.