The strike came just after the UN’s food agency was forced to pause movement across Gaza due to another Israeli attack.
Israeli forces killed four people in an attack on a humanitarian aid convoy organized by a U.S.-based group on Thursday, the day after the World Food Programme announced that another Israeli attack earlier that week was forcing it to suspend movements for safety reasons.
The aid convoy organized by U.S.-based nonprofit American Near East Refugee Aid (Anera) was carrying food and fuel to a hospital in Rafah when Israeli forces struck the leading vehicle in the convoy. The convoy’s route had been organized with Israeli forces ahead of time.
The strike killed four local Palestinians who were traveling with the convoy as part of the group’s partnership with a Dubai-based company called Move One. According to Anera, the convoy was still able to finish its delivery in spite of the attack.
Israeli forces allege that the Palestinians they killed were carrying weapons, but Anera said in a statement that “every initial report from those at the scene indicate that no weapons were present” and that they were “community members” who had previously led missions with Move One.
