Israeli airstrike in Gaza kills World Central Kitchen workers

Israelis observe the damaged buildings in a village in southern Lebanon as they stand near the Israeli-Lebanese border, during the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, in northern Israel, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. —AP Photo/Leo Correa

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli airstrike on a car in the Gaza Strip on Saturday killed five people including employees of World Central Kitchen, and the charity said it was “urgently seeking more details” after Israel’s military said it targeted a WCK worker who was part of the Hamas attack that sparked the war.

WCK said it was “heartbroken” by the airstrike and that it had no knowledge anyone in the car had alleged ties to the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, saying it was “working with incomplete information.” It said it was pausing operations in Gaza.

The charity’s work in Gaza was temporarily suspended earlier this year after an Israeli strike killed seven of its workers, most of them foreigners.

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The Israeli military in a statement said the alleged Oct. 7 attacker had taken part in the assault on the kibbutz of Nir Oz, and it asked “senior officials from the international community and the WCK administration to clarify” how he had come to work for the charity.

The violence in Gaza raged even as a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah appeared to hold, despite sporadic episodes that have tested its fragility.

The strike on the vehicle highlighted what aid agencies call the dangerous work of delivering aid in Gaza, where the war has displaced much of the 2.3 million population and triggered widespread hunger.

Palestinian health official Muneer Alboursh confirmed the strike.

At Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, a woman held up an employee badge bearing the WCK logo, the word “contractor” and the name of a man said to have been killed. Belongings—burned phones, a watch and stickers with the WCK logo—lay on the hospital floor.

Nazmi Ahmed said his nephew worked for WCK for the past year. He said he was driving to the charity’s kitchens and warehouses.

“Today, he went out as usual to work … and was targeted without prior warning and without any reason,” Ahmed said.

In April, a strike on a WCK aid convoy killed seven workers—three British citizens, Polish and Australian nationals, a Canadian-American dual national and a Palestinian. The Israeli military called the strike a mistake.

That strike prompted an international outcry and the brief suspension of aid to Gaza by several groups, including WCK. Another Palestinian WCK worker was killed in August by shrapnel from an Israeli airstrike, the group said.

Another Israeli airstrike Saturday hit a car near a food distribution point in Khan Younis, killing 13 people including children. Nasser hospital in Khan Younis received the bodies.

“They were distributing aid, vegetables, and we saw the missile landing,” said witness Rami Al-Sori. A woman sat on the ground and wept.

Ceasefire appears to hold

Efforts to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have faltered repeatedly. But the US- and France-brokered deal for Lebanon appears to be holding after it took effect on Wednesday.

On Saturday, Israel’s military said it struck sites that had been used to smuggle weapons from Syria to Lebanon after the ceasefire took effect. There was no immediate comment from Syrian authorities, Hezbollah or activists monitoring the conflict there. Israeli aircraft have struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, citing violations, several times since the truce.

The Israeli strike in Syria came as insurgents breached the country’s largest city, Aleppo, in a shock offensive that brought fresh uncertainty to the region.

The truce between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah calls for an initial two-month ceasefire in which the militants are to withdraw north of Lebanon’s Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border.

Many Lebanese, some of the 1.2 million displaced, streamed south to their homes, despite warnings by the Israeli and Lebanese militaries to stay away from certain areas.

“Day by day, we will return to our normal lives,” said Mustafa Badawi, a cafe owner in Tyre.

The toll of conflicts

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said an Israeli drone strike on the village of Rub Thalatheen killed two people and wounded two others. It said another strike hit a car in the southern village of Majdal Zoun, and Lebanon’s Health Ministry said three were wounded, including a 7-year-old.

Israel’s military said it had been operating to distance “suspects” in the region, without elaborating. Israel says it reserves the right to strike against any perceived violations.

Israel has made returning the tens of thousands of displaced Israelis home the goal of the war. But Israelis have been apprehensive about returning.

“No, it will not be like before,” said one Israeli evacuee, Lavie Eini.

Hezbollah began attacking Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in solidarity with the Palestinian militant group Hamas and its assault on southern Israel. Israel and Hezbollah kept up cross-border fire for nearly a year until Israel escalated with an attack that detonated hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah. It then launched an intense aerial bombardment campaign that killed Hezbollah leaders including Hassan Nasrallah, and launched a ground invasion in early October.

More than 3,760 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel—over half of them civilians—as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.

Hamas’ October 2023 attack killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took some 250 hostage.

On Saturday, Hamas released a video of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander. Speaking under duress, Alexander referred to being held for 420 days and mentioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent $5 million offer for the hostages’ return. “The prime minister is supposed to protect his soldiers and citizens, and you abandoned us,” Alexander said.

Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister spoke with Alexander’s family after the release of the “brutal psychological warfare video” that held “an important and exciting sign of life.”

Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed over 44,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants in their count but say over half the dead were women and children.