Israeli airstrikes on Gaza kill two aid workers

By Nidal al-Mughrabi, Adam Makary and Menna AlaaElDin

CAIRO (Reuters) – Two aid workers were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza on Saturday, with Israel saying it had killed a militant who took part in the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel and who it said was employed by a U.S.-based charity.

The first was a World Central Kitchen member, who was hit in a vehicle in Khan Younis in Southern Gaza. The Israeli military said that he had taken part in the attack on Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel and was under surveillance but did not offer any evidence.

Reuters could not independently verify whether he took part in the attack last year.

The family of the man, Ahed Azmi Qdeih, said the Israeli allegations were false and meant to justify his unlawful killing. They said he was an engineer who dedicated his life to charitable work.

World Central Kitchen confirmed the airstrike and said it had no knowledge about an employee involved in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack.

“We are heartbroken to share that a vehicle carrying World Central Kitchen colleagues was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza,” it said in a statement posted on X. “World Central Kitchen had no knowledge that any individual in the vehicle had alleged ties to the October 7th Hamas attack.”

The charity group said it was pausing operations in Gaza, adding that it was working with incomplete information and was urgently seeking more details. The official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that three employees of the charity were killed in the strike, with medics saying a total of five people were killed.

Hamas did not immediately comment.

Later in the day, international aid agency Save the Children also said in a statement that a 39-year-old staffer, who it identified as Ahmad Faisal Isleem Al-Qadi, was killed in an airstrike in Khan Younis.

It was unclear if the two men were killed in the same strike. Israel has not immediately commented on Save the Children’s statement.

“There are not strong enough words to express the grief and outrage we feel at the loss of Ahmad in an Israeli airstrike. He was a valued member of our team and loved by all who met him,” Inger Ashing, the Save the Children chief executive, said in the statement.

In another attack in Khan Younis, medics said at least nine Palestinians were killed when an Israeli airstrike hit a car near a crowd receiving flour, a vehicle that was used by security personnel tasked with overseeing aid deliveries into Gaza.

The Israeli military says that it does not target civilians and accuses Hamas of operating from civilian facilities and using Gaza’s population as human shields, which the group denies.

At least 32 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes across the enclave overnight and into Saturday, Gaza medics said, including seven killed in a strike on a house in central Gaza City, according to Gaza officials.

NEW CEASEFIRE EFFORTS

Meanwhile leaders of Hamas were expected to arrive in Cairo on Saturday for ceasefire talks with Egyptian officials, days after Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon, two officials of the group told Reuters.

The visit is the first since the United States announced earlier this week it would revive efforts in collaboration with Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza.

The Hamas delegation is expected to meet with Egyptian security officials to explore ways to reach a ceasefire deal with Israel that could secure the release of hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners.

Progress before now has been limited in a series of on-off talks over months.

Hamas is seeking an agreement that would end the war while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that the war will end only when Hamas is eradicated.

Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed at least 44,382 people and displaced nearly all of the enclave’s population at least once, Gaza officials say. Vast swathes of Gaza lie in ruins.

The conflict was triggered more than 13 months ago when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israeli communities, killing about 1,200 people and abducting over 250 hostages, according to Israeli officials.

(Reporting by Nidal Al Mughrabi, Ahmed Mohamed Hassan, Adam Makary, Menna Alaa and Hatem Maher in Cairo and Emily Rose and Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem; Additional reporting by Lucia Mutikani in Washington; Editing by Toby Chopra, Frances Kerry and Diane Craft)