Israel’s military says it targeted “terrorist” Hamas in a strike that reportedly killed three World Central Kitchen workers.

An Israeli airstrike in Gaza has killed five people, including staff from aid organization World Central Kitchen (WCK), with the Israeli military claiming it was targeting a Hamas terrorist involved in the October 7 terror attacks.

But the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they could not link Hamzi Kadih, one of the aid workers with the WCF, to any specific attempt to take Israeli hostages.

The strike forced WCK to suspend operations in Gaza – for the second time this year.

Earlier this year, an Israeli attack on a WCK convoy killed seven people, including Australian Zomi Frankcom.

The incident forced an internal investigation within the IDF – which said it was the result of a “misidentification” of a convoy – and an investigation by the Australian government into the circumstances leading up to the attack and the Israeli response to the incident.

This time, the IDF said it was specifically targeting the vehicle that was hit.

“The terrorist, Hazmi Kadih, infiltrated Israel and took part in the October 7 criminal massacre in Kibbutz Nir Oz,” the IDF said in a statement.

“The IDF and the (Israel Security Agency) will continue to operate to locate and eliminate terrorists carrying out terrorist activities against Israeli civilians and those involved in the criminal massacre of October 7.

“We emphasize that, according to current information, it is not possible to link the terrorist to a specific kidnapping attempt.”

Israel’s government agency that coordinates operations in Gaza, COGAT, said it would ask WCK to investigate how it employed personnel it claims were involved in the attacks on Israel that were the catalyst for the war against Hamas in Gaza.

“COGAT repeatedly requests international organizations operating in the Gaza Strip to provide the Israeli authorities with details of local employees who are employed by them in the Gaza Strip, to ensure that terrorists do not use the humanitarian realm,” the IDF said in a statement.

WCK said it was heartbroken that its staff had been killed in an Israeli airstrike.

“At this time, we are working with incomplete information and are urgently seeking more details,” the organization said in a statement.

“World Central Kitchen is suspending operations in Gaza at this time.

“Our hearts go out to our colleagues and their families at this unimaginable time.”

Unverified video circulating on social media shows the wreckage of a white SUV in Gaza, said to be the vehicle hit by the Israeli attack.

Local journalists said WCK staff and two bystanders were killed in the attack.

Israeli authorities have been criticized for their dealings with aid agencies in Gaza.

Among the concerns, humanitarian organizations accused the IDF of failing to stop airstrikes in areas where aid workers worked and of failing to protect convoys distributing aid to the worst-affected areas of Gaza.

In September, Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong called for a new United Nations declaration to protect aid workers, describing Gaza as “the deadliest place on earth to be an aid worker”.