An Israeli airstrike on a car in the Gaza Strip on Saturday killed five people, including employees of the charity World Central Kitchen, with Israel saying it had targeted a militant who took part in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks.
The U.S.-based charity said it had no knowledge anyone in the vehicle had alleged ties to the 2023 attacks against Israel and was “urgently seeking more details” about the matter. It said it is pausing its operations in Gaza.
The Israeli military said the alleged Oct. 7 attacker targeted in the strike 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 Israel Defense Forces identified the man as Hazmi Kadih and said he had been “monitored by IDF intelligence for a while.”
Palestinian health official Muneer Alboursh confirmed the strike, and an aid worker in Gaza confirmed that three of those killed were workers with the WCK, the Associated Press reported.
Separately, British aid agency Save the Children said one of its staff members was also killed on Saturday afternoon in Khan Younis, the BBC reported. It is unclear whether he was killed in the same strike as the WCK employees.
World Central Kitchen had suspended work in Gaza earlier this year after an Israeli strike killed seven of its workers.
