5 foreign aid workers killed in Israeli airstrike on Deir al-Balah

By Ahmed Asmar

ANKARA (AA) - At least five foreigners working for an aid organization were killed late Monday in an Israeli airstrike on their vehicle in Deir al-Balah city in the central the Gaza Strip, eyewitnesses told Anadolu.

The vehicle belonged to World Central Kitchen (WCK), a US-based aid organization founded by celebrity humanitarian-chef Jose Andres.

The victims were transferred to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah.

The local authorities in Gaza said at a briefing that Israel struck a relief team consisting of British, Polish and Australian nationals in addition to a Palestinian from Gaza.

Photos emerging on Palestinian social media accounts showed the passports of the foreigners who were killed in the airstrike, including an Australian, Polish and British passport as well as bodies with WCK T-shirts.

The Israeli army is yet to comment on the incident.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas which killed some 1,200 people.

Over 32,800 Palestinians have since been killed and 75,300 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities. Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which on Thursday asked Israel to do more to prevent famine in Gaza.