Israeli strike in Gaza kills World Central Kitchen workers. Israel says 1 was an October 7 attacker

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 Kitchenand the charity said it was “urgently seeking more details” after the Israeli military said it had targeted a WCK worker who was part of the Hamas attack that sparked the war.

WCK said it was heartbroken by the airstrike and was unaware that anyone in the car had alleged links to the October 7, 2023 attack, saying it was “working with incomplete information”. He said he was suspending operations in Gaza.

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

The Israeli military said in a statement that the alleged October 7 attacker took part in assault on the kibbutz of Nir Oz and asked “senior officials in the international community and WCK administration to clarify” how he came to work for the charity.

Violence in Gaza has wreaked havoc a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah it seemed to hold, despite sporadic episodes that tested its frailty.

The strike on the vehicle highlighted what aid agencies the dangerous work of providing aid in Gazawhere the war displaced much of the population of 2.3 million and triggered widespread famine.

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. The works – burnt telephones, a watch and stickers with the WCK logo – lay on the hospital floor.

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

“Today, he went out to work as usual … and was targeted without prior warning and for no reason,” Ahmed said.

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

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

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

“They were distributing aid, vegetables and I saw the rocket land,” said witness Rami Al-Sori. A woman was sitting on the ground crying.

Efforts to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have repeatedly weakened. But agreement brokered by the US and France as Lebanon appears to be holding after it went into effect on Wednesday.

On Saturday, the Israeli military said it struck sites that were being used to smuggle weapons from Syria into Lebanon after the ceasefire came into effect. There was no immediate comment from Syrian authorities, Hezbollah or activists monitoring the conflict there. Israeli jets have struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, citing violations, several times since the ceasefire.

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

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

Many Lebanese, some of the 1.2 million displaced, they flowed south to their homesdespite warnings from the Israeli and Lebanese armies to stay away from certain areas.

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

Lebanon’s National News Agency said an Israeli drone strike in the village of Rub Thalatheen killed two people and wounded two others. Another strike is said to have hit a car in the southern village of Majdal Zoun, and Lebanon’s Health Ministry said three people were injured, including a 7-year-old child.

The Israeli military said it operated to remove “suspects” from the region, without giving details. Israel says it reserves the right to strike against any perceived violations.

Israel has made the return of tens of thousands of displaced Israelis the goal of the war. But Israelis they were anxious to return.

“No, it won’t be the same,” said one Israeli evacuee, Lavie Eini.

Hezbollah began attacking Israel on October 8, 2023, in solidarity with the Palestinian militant group Hamas and its attack on southern Israel. Israel and Hezbollah continued cross-border fire for nearly a year until Israel escalated an attack that detonated hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah. He then launched an intense aerial bombardment campaign that killed Hezbollah leaders, including Hassan Nasrallahand 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 has killed more than 70 people in Israel – more than half of them civilians – as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.

The October 2023 Hamas attack killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 hostages.

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

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

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 numbers, but say more than half of the dead were women and children.

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Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel, and Mroue reported from Beirut. Mohammad Jahjouh from Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, contributed.