Israel kills World Central Kitchen aid workers again in Gaza

An Israeli air strike on a car in Palestine's Gaza has killed five people including three World Central Kitchen aid workers, a senior Palestinian health official said.

The charity World Central Kitchen (WCK), whose aid delivery efforts in the war-ravaged territory were temporarily suspended earlier this year after an Israeli strike killed seven of its workers, most of them foreigners.

The strike on the vehicle in Gaza was the latest in what aid agencies have described as the dangerous work of delivering aid in Gaza, where Israel's war has sparked a humanitarian crisis that has displaced much of the territory's 2.3 million population and triggered widespread hunger.

World Central Kitchen provides freshly prepared meals to people in need following natural disasters or to those enduring conflict.

Its teams have fanned out in Gaza and across Israel and Lebanon since the war began and have often served as a lifeline for Palestinians in Gaza who have struggled to feed themselves and their families.

Palestinian health official Muneer Alboursh confirmed the strike, and an aid worker in Gaza confirmed that three killed were workers with the WCK. The aid worker spoke anonymously because he wasn't authorised to speak with the media.

Scenes at hospital

At Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, a woman held up an employee badge bearing the WCK logo, the word “contractor” and the name of a man said to have been killed in the strike.

A heap of belongings — burned phones, a watch and stickers with the WCK logo — lay splayed on the hospital 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 for no 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 claimed the attack was a mistake.

The attack prompted an international outcry and the suspension of aid to Gaza for a brief period by several aid groups, including WCK.

Another Palestinian WCK worker was killed in August by shrapnel from an Israeli air strike, the group said.