US charity World Central Kitchen said Saturday it was "pausing operations in Gaza" after an Israeli air strike killed three of its contractors, including one who Israel's military said was involved in Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack.
Earlier on Saturday, Gaza civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that five people were killed, including "three employees of World Central Kitchen", in the strike in the main southern city of Khan Yunis.
"The three in the car were contractors of ours," WCK said.
The Israeli military had previously said that a Palestinian working for WCK was killed, accusing the individual of being a "terrorist" who "infiltrated Israel and took part in the murderous October 7 massacre" last year.
WCK said in a statement that it "had no knowledge that any individual in the vehicle had alleged ties to the October 7 Hamas attack".
The Israeli army had said its strike in Khan Yunis targeted "a civilian unmarked vehicle and its movement on the route was not coordinated for transporting of aid".
The Israeli army statement said representatives from the unit responsible for overseeing humanitarian needs in Gaza had "demanded senior officials from the international community and the WCK administration to clarify the issue and order an urgent examination regarding the hiring of workers who took part in the October 7 massacre".
In April, an Israeli strike killed seven WCK staff — .
Israel said it had been targeting a "Hamas gunman" in that strike, but the military admitted a series of "grave mistakes" and violations of its own rules of engagement.
Save the Children condemns killing of team member
In a separate incident, Save the Children also confirmed that a deaf staff member was killed in an airstrike as he was returning home to his wife and toddler.
The aid worker, Ahmad Faisal Isleem Al-Qadi, had worked in the administrative team since May 2024 and was killed returning home from the mosque in Khan Younis.
Ahmad Faisal Isleem Al-Qadi had worked in Save the Children's administrative team since May 2024. Source: Supplied / Save the Children
"We condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms and demand an investigation", Chief Executive Inger Ashing said.
"There are not strong enough words to express the grief and outrage we feel at the loss of Ahmad in an Israeli airstrike. He was a valued member of our team and loved by all who met him."
The UN said last week that 333 aid workers had been killed since the start of the war in October of last year, 243 of them employees of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
Israel's military began its Gaza offensive in response to the October 7 attack last year in which Hamas fighters killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and seized more than 250 hostages.
Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 44,382 people in Gaza, according to figures from the territory's health ministry.
