Four killed in Israeli attack on aid convoy in Gaza

The incident took place on Thursday, but only became known via Washington Post Friday.

The convoy was organized by the American aid organization American Near East Refugee Aid (Anera), and had delivered medical supplies to a hospital in Rafah when it was attacked.

The organization had coordinated the operation with Israeli forces and had been given the green light to drive along the route, the head of Anera’s operations in the Palestinian territories, Sandra Rasheed, told the newspaper.

Claims the car was hijacked

According to her, five people were killed in the attack, but Anera told AFP on Friday evening that four were killed.

The four sat in the first car in the column and worked for a local transport company. All must be Palestinians.

The Israeli army defends the attack to the Washington Post and claims that militant Palestinians had hijacked the first car in the column.

– Armed men en route took control of the vehicle that drove first, a statement says.

– An attack was carried out against them. No other cars in the column were damaged. They reached the goal as planned, it says.

Shot at UN car

The attack on Anera’s motorcade came the day after Israeli soldiers opened fire from close range on a clearly marked car from the World Food Program (WFP).

The car was hit by ten shots, but was armoured. The two aid workers who were in the car therefore escaped physically unharmed from the incident. Israel claims the attack was due to a communication failure between two Israeli military units.

WFP announced after the incident that it would suspend all transport of staff in Gaza until further notice.

Also in May, Israeli forces opened fire on a clearly marked UN vehicle which was on its way to a hospital in Rafah. One Indian UN employee was killed and another was injured in the attack.

Killed in an airstrike

In April, seven employees joined the American aid organization World Central Kitchen killed in an Israeli airstrike.

Israel also then claimed that there were militant Palestinians in the car, but later apologized for the attack and acknowledged having made a mistake.

Israel has also attacked a number of other aid organizations and aid workers in Gaza since last October.

According to United Nations Relief and Works Agency (OCHA) 294 aid workers were killed during the war, 216 of them employees of UN organisations.