Gaza airstrike kills World Central Kitchen workers; Israel says Oct. 7 attacker among dead
DEIR AL BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli airstrike Saturday on a car in the Gaza Strip killed five people, including employees of World Central Kitchen. The charity said it was “urgently seeking more details†after Israel’s military said it targeted a worker who was part of the Hamas attack that sparked the war.
World Central Kitchen said that it was “heartbroken†and that it had no knowledge anyone in the car had ties to the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, saying it was “working with incomplete information.†It said it was pausing operations in Gaza.
It had suspended work earlier this year after an Israeli strike killed seven of its workers.
The Israeli military in a statement said the person it was targeting had taken part in the Oct. 7 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 family of the targeted worker, Ahed Azmi Qdeih, rejected the allegations as “false accusations†and confirmed in a statement that he had worked with the charity. Israel gave his name as Hazmi Kadih.
The strike highlighted the dangerous work of delivering aid in Gaza, where the war has displaced most of the population of 2.3 million and caused widespread hunger.
The cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah ended the deadliest bout of violence between the two sides in decades.
At Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis, a woman held up an employee badge bearing the World Central Kitchen logo, the word “contractor†and the name of a man said to have been killed. Belongings — burned phones, a watch and stickers with the charity organization’s logo — lay on the hospital floor.
Nazmi Ahmed said his nephew worked for World Central Kitchen for the last 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.
The earlier strike on a World Central Kitchen aid convoy in April killed 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. Another Palestinian worker with the charity 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 Yunis, killing 13 people including children. Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis 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.
Save the Children said an employee was killed in one of the Khan Yunis strikes while returning from a mosque.
The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital reported a strike in Tal al Zaatar in the north where Israeli forces are operating, and estimated based on witness accounts that well over 100 dead were under the rubble. He said the area remained inaccessible.
Cease-fire appears to hold
Efforts to secure a cease-fire between Israel and the militant group Hamas have faltered repeatedly. But the U.S.- and France-brokered deal for Lebanon appears to be holding after it took effect Wednesday.
On Saturday, Israel’s military said it struck sites that had been used to smuggle weapons from Syria to Lebanon after the cease-fire 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 city of Aleppo, in a shock offensive that brought fresh uncertainty to the region.
Thousands of Syrian insurgents fanned out inside Syria’s largest city, Aleppo, a day after storming it with little resistance from government troops.
The truce between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah calls for an initial two-month cease-fire 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 said returning tens of thousands of displaced Israelis to the country’s north is 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 in 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 — more than 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 the militants took about 250 people 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.â€
The prime minister “reassured me and promised that now, after reaching an arrangement in Lebanon, conditions are right to free you all and bring you home,†Alexander’s mother, Yael, told demonstrators in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening.
A statement from U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett called the hostage video “a cruel reminder of Hamas’ terror against citizens of multiple countries, including our own.â€
Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 44,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants in their count but say more than half the dead were women and children.
Associated Press writers Shurafa, Goldenberg and Mroue reported from Deir al Balah, Tel Aviv and Beirut, respectively. Mohammad Jahjouh in Khan Yunis contributed to this report.
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