An Israeli air strike on a vehicle in Gaza has reportedly killed five people, including staff from aid organization World Central Kitchen (WCK), with Israel’s military claiming it was targeting a Hamas “terrorist” involved in the October 7 terrorist attacks.
But the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they could not link Hazmi Kadih, one of the aid workers with WCF, with any specific attempt to take Israeli hostages.
WCK said it had “no knowledge that any individual in the vehicle had alleged ties to the October 7th Hamas attack”, and Saturday’s strike had forced it to suspend its operations in Gaza — the second time it has done so this year.
Earlier this year, an Israeli attack on a WCK convoy killed seven people, including Australian woman Zomi Frankcom.
The incident forced an internal investigation within the IDF — which said it was a result of a “misidentification” of a convoy — and a probe by the Australian government into the circumstances leading to the strike and the Israeli response to the incident.
The IDF said it was specifically targeting the vehicle that was hit.
“The terrorist, Hazmi Kadih, infiltrated Israel and took part in the murderous October 7th massacre in Kibbutz Nir Oz,” the IDF said in a statement.
“The IDF and [Israel Security Agency] will continue to operate to locate and eliminate terrorists who conduct terrorist activities against the civilians of Israel and those involved in the murderous October 7th massacre.
“We emphasize that according to current information, it is not possible to link the terrorist to a specific abduction attempt.”
