Tensions over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza escalated further on Wednesday after a U.S.- and Israeli-backed aid group accused Hamas militants of attacking a convoy of aid workers near Khan Yunis, killing five and injuring several others.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a controversial private charity operating in the war-ravaged enclave, said one of its buses was “brutally attacked by Hamas” around 10:00 p.m. local time as it approached a food distribution point in southern Gaza.
“We are still gathering facts, but what we know is devastating: there are at least five fatalities, multiple injuries, and fear that some of our team members may have been taken hostage,” the group said in a statement.
In follow-up communication, GHF confirmed that all five people killed were Palestinian nationals employed as aid workers by the organisation.
“These were aid workers. Humanitarians. Fathers, brothers, sons, and friends, who were risking their lives every day to help others,” the foundation said, condemning the attack.
The attack adds to the growing dangers faced by civilians and aid workers in Gaza as the territory struggles with extreme food shortages and an intensifying humanitarian disaster. The distribution of aid has become increasingly chaotic and deadly, with many Palestinians killed in recent weeks while attempting to reach relief convoys.
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Gaza’s civil defence agency reported that Israeli forces killed 31 people waiting for aid on the same day as the attack on GHF workers. The Israeli military has not responded to requests for comment on the incident.
The situation has further overwhelmed Gaza’s already collapsed health infrastructure. Al-Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat Camp reported four deaths and over 100 injuries from an Israeli drone strike on a crowd gathered near a checkpoint to receive aid. At Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital, emergency rooms were inundated with wounded aid seekers.
GHF began operations on May 26 amid mounting international alarm over famine conditions, after Israel imposed a near-total blockade on supplies entering Gaza for more than two months. Despite claiming to have delivered over seven million meals in its first week, the organisation has come under intense scrutiny. Major humanitarian organisations, including the United Nations, have declined to collaborate with GHF, citing concerns over transparency, neutrality, and safety protocols.
The war in Gaza, now in its ninth month, erupted following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, which left 1,219 people dead—mostly civilians—and 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli officials.
The Israeli military says 54 hostages remain in Gaza, 32 of whom are believed to be dead.
Since then, Israel’s military response has resulted in the deaths of at least 55,104 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The United Nations has said these casualty figures are credible and consistent with its own assessments.
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