ADDS REMARKS FROM WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN, ISRAELI MILITARY
By Anadolu staff
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - Five people working for an aid organization, including four foreigners, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their vehicle in Deir al-Balah city in the central Gaza Strip, the Government Media Office in Gaza said Monday.
"Israel struck a foreign team that consists of British, Polish and Australian nationals and another nationality still not identified, in addition to a Palestinian from Gaza," Ismail Thawabteh, the director of the office, said at a press conference.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that the vehicle belonged to World Central Kitchen (WCK), a US-based aid organization founded by celebrity humanitarian-chef Jose Andres.
Photos emerging on Palestinian social media accounts showed the passports of the foreigners who were killed in the airstrike, including from Australia, Poland and the UK, as well as bodies with WCK T-shirts.
The WCK said they are aware of reports that members of the World Central Kitchen team have been killed in an Israeli attack while working to support humanitarian food delivery efforts in Gaza.
"This is a tragedy. Humanitarian aid workers and civilians should NEVER be a target. EVER," it said on X.
The Israeli military, meanwhile, said it was conducting a thorough review at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of the "tragic" 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 also 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 last Thursday asked Israel to do more to prevent famine in Gaza.