All kinds of torture, genocide carried out by Israel in Gaza, says sister of deceased aid worker

By Sule Ozkan

All kinds of torture, and genocide against Palestinians have been carried out in Gaza, the sister of Nadi Sallout, a deceased aid worker from World Central Kitchen (WCK), said while recounting the horrors of the brutal Israeli war on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023.

"For about a year, all kinds of torture and genocide have been carried out in Gaza. It was my brother's right to see his children… We have the right to live,” Nedaa Sallout told Anadolu.

On Aug. 8, WCK said Nadi Sallout, a Palestinian, was killed near the central city of Deir al-Balah, without providing details about the circumstances of his death.

Noting that his brother initially worked in the Rafah region, she said he later worked in a warehouse in Deir al-Balah.

She said his brother Nadi was driving his friend's car the day he was killed in a bombing by Israel.

"There was a bombardment on the road while Nadi was driving. It was the only main road leading to the Khan Younis region. Nadi tried to turn the car around at that time. Unfortunately, a piece of shrapnel hit him under his right ear,” she added.

Noting that his brother had three daughters and a son, she said they had to move to Rafah, but even that region could not meet humanitarian needs.

She added that his brother was supposed to be in the car in which seven WCK employees lost their lives in an Israeli airstrike in April.

“Nadi was supposed to be in the same car, but he was a few minutes late. He apologized to them and said he would come in another car," she said, recalling her brother as saying that he was seconds away from death.

On April 1, an Israeli airstrike killed seven aid workers from the group; three Britons, an Australian, a Polish national, a US-Canadian dual citizen and a Palestinian.

Since October last year, more than 280 aid workers – the majority of them staff members of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) – have been killed in Gaza alone.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas.

The Israeli onslaught has since killed over 40,100 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured over 92,700, according to local health authorities.

More than 10 months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.​​​​​​​

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar​​​​​​​