An Israeli strike in Gaza kills World Central Kitchen workers. Israel says 1 was an Oct. 7 attacker

Associated Press

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli airstrike on a car in the Gaza Strip on Saturday killed five people, including employees of World Central Kitchen. The charity said it was “urgently seeking more details” after Israel’s military said it targeted a WCK worker who was part of the Hamas attack that sparked the war.

WCK said it was “heartbroken” and it had no knowledge anyone in the car had alleged ties to the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, adding it was “working with incomplete information.” It said it was pausing operations in Gaza. It had suspended work earlier this year after an Israeli strike killed seven of its workers.

The Israeli military in a statement said the alleged Oct. 7 attacker took part in the assault on the kibbutz of Nir Oz, and it asked “senior officials from the international community” and the WCK to clarify how he had come to work for the charity.

The family of the man named by Israel, Ahed Azmi Qdeih, rejected the allegations as “false accusations,” and confirmed in a statement he had worked with the charity. Israel named him as Hazmi Kadih.

The strike highlighted the dangerous work of delivering aid in Gaza, where the war has displaced much of the 2.3 million population and caused widespread hunger.

At Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, a woman held up an employee badge bearing the WCK logo and the word “contractor.” Belongings — burned phones, a watch and stickers with the WCK logo — lay on the floor.

Nazmi Ahmed said his nephew worked for WCK for the past year. He said he was driving to the charity’s kitchens and warehouses.

“Today, he went out as usual to work … and was targeted without prior warning and without any reason,” Ahmed said.

In April, a strike on a WCK aid convoy killed seven workers — three British citizens, Polish and Australian nationals, a Canadian-American dual national and a Palestinian. The Israeli military called it a mistake. That strike prompted an international outcry. Another Palestinian WCK worker was killed in August by shrapnel from an Israeli airstrike, the group said.

Another Israeli airstrike Saturday hit a car near a food distribution point in Khan Younis, killing 13 people, including children. Nasser hospital in Khan Younis received the bodies.

“They were distributing aid, vegetables, and we saw the missile landing,” witness Rami Al-Sori said. A woman sat on the ground and wept.

Save the Children said a local employee was killed in one of the Khan Younis airstrikes while returning from a mosque.

And the director of Kamal Adwan hospital reported a strike in Tal al Zaatar in Beit Lahiya in the north where Israeli forces are operating, and estimated based on witness accounts that well over 100 dead were under the rubble. He said the area remained inaccessible.

Ceasefire appears to hold

Efforts for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have faltered. But the U.S.- and France-brokered deal for Lebanon appears to be holding since Wednesday.

On Saturday, Israel’s military said that it struck sites used to smuggle weapons from Syria to Lebanon after the ceasefire took effect. There was no immediate comment from Syrian authorities or Hezbollah. Israeli aircraft have struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon several times, citing truce violations.

Israel’s strike in Syria came as insurgents breached its largest city, Aleppo, bringing fresh uncertainty to the region.

The truce between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah calls for an initial two-month ceasefire in which the militants should withdraw north of Lebanon’s Litani River and Israeli forces should return to their side of the border.

Many Lebanese, some of the 1.2 million displaced, streamed home despite warnings by the Israeli and Lebanese militaries to avoid certain areas.

“Day by day, we will return to our normal lives,” said Mustafa Badawi, a cafe owner in Tyre.

The toll of conflicts

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said an Israeli drone strike on Rub Thalatheen village killed two people and wounded two others, and another hit a car in Majdal Zoun village. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said three were wounded, including a 7-year-old child.

Israel’s military said it had been operating to distance “suspects” in the region, without elaborating. Israel says it reserves the right to strike against any perceived violations.

Israel seeks to ensure that tens of thousands of displaced Israelis return home. But they have been apprehensive.

“No, it will not be like before,” said one Israeli evacuee, Lavie Eini.

Hezbollah began attacking Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in solidarity with the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Israel and Hezbollah kept up cross-border fire until Israel escalated with an attack that detonated hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah. It then launched an intense aerial bombardment that killed Hezbollah leaders including Hassan Nasrallah, and a ground invasion in October.

More than 3,760 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel, over half of them civilians, as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.

Hamas’ October 2023 attack killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took around 250 hostage.

On Saturday, Hamas released a video of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander. Speaking under duress, Alexander referred to being held for 420 days and mentioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent $5 million offer for the hostages’ return.

“The prime minister is supposed to protect his soldiers and citizens, and you abandoned us,” Alexander said.

Netanyahu’s office said that he spoke with Alexander’s family after the release of the “brutal psychological warfare video” that held “an important and exciting sign of life.”

“(Netanyahu) reassured me and promised that now, after reaching an arrangement in Lebanon, conditions are right to free you all and bring you home,” Alexander’s mother, Yael, told demonstrators in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 44,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who don’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in their count but say over half the dead were women and children.

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Tia Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel, and Bassem Mroue reported from Beirut. Mohammad Jahjouh contributed to this report from Khan Younis, Gaza Strip.

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Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war