Three British aid workers were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, charity World Central Kitchen (WCK) has said.
Nationals from Poland and Australia were also killed, as well as a dual citizen of the US and Canada – and a Palestinian who was driving the car they were all travelling in.
The volunteers were employed by WCK, a non-governmental organisation which provides food for displaced Palestinians.
The workers’ car was hit by an airstrike just after crossing from northern Gaza – and it is believed they were helping to deliver aid that had arrived hours earlier on a ship from Cyprus.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has acknowledged that Israeli forces were responsible for the airstrike, saying there was a “tragic incident of an unintended strike of our forces on innocent people in the Gaza Strip”.
He added: “It happens in war, we check it to the end, we are in contact with the governments, and we will do everything so that this thing does not happen again.”
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His comments came after Lord Cameron said news of the airstrike on the WCK aid workers is “deeply distressing”.
Writing on the X social media platform, he added: “British Nationals are reported to have been killed, we are urgently working to verify this information and will provide full support to their families.
“These were people who were working to deliver life-saving aid to those who desperately need it.
“It is essential that humanitarian workers are protected and able to carry out their work.
“We have called on Israel to immediately investigate and provide a full, transparent explanation of what happened.”
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Meanwhile, WCK chief executive Erin Gore said the team of volunteers was “travelling in a deconflicted zone in two armoured cars branded with the WCK logo and a soft skin vehicle” when it was hit.
Despite coordinating movements with the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), the convoy was hit as it was leaving a warehouse in the central Gazan town of Deir al Balah, the charity said.
It added it is pausing its operations immediately in the region.
“This is a tragedy. Humanitarian aid workers and civilians should NEVER be a target. EVER,” the charity said in a statement.
Ms Gore added: “This is not only an attack against WCK, this is an attack on humanitarian organisations showing up in the most dire of situations where food is being used as a weapon of war. This is unforgivable.”
Geolocated footage and information from individuals with knowledge from the ground provides further insight into events surrounding the recent deaths of aid workers in central Gaza.
World Central Kitchen said their staff were travelling in three vehicles from the charity’s Deir Al Balah warehouse.
Geolocated photographs show a burnt-out car on the side of the Al Rashid coastal road to the southwest of the city. Materials marked with World Central Kitchen’s branding can be seen in the back of the vehicle.
Photographs and footage of a second vehicle, with the charity’s logo painted on its roof, place it around 810 metres southeast along the road. The roof appears to have been punctured by some kind of munition, and the interior is visibly damaged.
A third car appears to have been similarly destroyed. Geolocated footage posted to Instagram shows a white burnt-out vehicle in a field a further 1.6km southeast along the road. A high-visibility vest with World Central Kitchen branding is on the back seat.
Social media posts first mention the strikes at around 10.52pm local time. This fits with information provided to Sky News, which placed the attacks between 10.30 and 11pm.
Footage filmed shortly after shows that bodies were taken from The Al Rashid coastal road to Al Aqsa Hospital in the northeast of Deir Al Balah.
The IDF said it is carrying out a “thorough review at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of this tragic incident”.
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Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, Israel’s chief military spokesperson, said he had expressed “the deepest condolences of the Israel Defense Forces to the families and the entire World Central Kitchen family”.
He said the IDF will be examining the “serious incident further” to “help us reduce the risk of such an event from occurring again”.
