GAZA STRIP: A US-based aid group said on Friday an Israeli air strike killed four people accompanying its convoy in Gaza the day before, while the Israeli military said it had struck armed assailants.
“An Israeli air strike yesterday killed four Palestinians in the lead vehicle of an Anera aid convoy carrying food and fuel to the Emirati Red Crescent Hospital,” Anera said in a statement.
It identified the dead as “four community members with experience in previous missions and engagement in community security”, noting that they were not Anera staff.
They “stepped forward and requested to take command of the leading vehicle, citing concern that the route was unsafe and at risk of being looted”, the Anera statement said.
“The four community members were neither vetted nor coordinated in advance, and Israeli authorities allege that the lead car was carrying numerous weapons. The Israeli air strike was carried out without any prior warning or communication.”
A statement from the Israeli military, which did not give a death toll, said the strike occurred after “a number of armed assailants seized control of the vehicle”.
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It also said “the presence of armed individuals was not coordinated” before the convoy departed.
“After ruling out potential harm to the trucks, as well as a clear identification of weapons, a strike was carried out targeting the armed individuals. The truck arrived at its planned destination,” the military said.
Anera said none of its staff were harmed in the strike “though one Anera employee, who was in the second vehicle, witnessed the incident at close range”.
Anera President and CEO Sean Carroll said information collected by the group indicated it was “a case of partners on the ground endeavouring to deliver aid successfully”.
He added: “This should not come at the cost of people’s lives.”
The ongoing war in Gaza, triggered by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel, has led to a major humanitarian crisis in the besieged territory while putting aid workers at risk.
The World Food Programme said Wednesday it was pausing movement of its staff in Gaza “until further notice” after one of its vehicles was struck by gunfire at an Israeli military checkpoint.
In May the United Nations said an Indian member of its security services was killed and another wounded when a UN vehicle was struck on the way to a hospital in Rafah.
And on April 1, seven aid workers from the US charity World Central Kitchen were killed in an Israeli strike which the military called a “tragic mistake”.
The UN humanitarian office said on Friday that attacks affecting its personnel “not only endanger the lives of aid workers… but also limit their capacity to help the more than 2 million people who are engaged in a daily struggle for their survival”.
It also said that in August “the number of humanitarian missions and movements within Gaza that have been denied access by Israeli authorities has almost doubled, compared with July”.
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