By Nidal al-Mughrabi, Adam Makary and Menna AlaaElDin
CAIRO (Reuters) – The Israeli army said on Saturday it had killed a soldier involved in the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas in Israel and who it claims was employed by the US aid organization, World Central Kitchen, in Gaza.
The military did not provide evidence and Reuters could not independently identify the man or whether he took part in the attacks on Israel last year.
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World Central Kitchen confirmed the airstrike and said it had no information about the employee involved in the October 7 attack.
“We are anxious to share that the vehicle carrying the staff of the World Central Kitchen was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza,” he said in a statement posted on X. the attack on Hamas on October 7.”
The aid group said it was suspending operations in Gaza, adding that it was working with insufficient information and urgently seeking more information.
Hamas did not immediately comment.
Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that three charity workers were killed when an Israeli strike targeted a vehicle in Khan Younis, south of Gaza. Medics said five people were killed.
In the subsequent attack in Khan Younis, medics said at least nine Palestinians were killed when an Israeli plane hit a car near the crowd receiving the powder, a car used by security personnel to see aid in Gaza.
The Israeli army says it does not target civilians and accuses Hamas of operating from civilian areas and using Gazans as human shields, which the group denies.
At least 32 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes overnight on Saturday, Gaza doctors said, including seven killed in an attack on a house in central Gaza City, according to Gaza officials.
NEW CEASEFIRE EFFORTS
Meanwhile, Hamas leaders were expected to arrive in Cairo on Saturday for talks with Egyptian officials, days after Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon, two senior officials of the group told Reuters.
The visit is the first since the United States announced earlier this week that it will renew joint efforts with Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey to negotiate an end to Gaza.
A delegation of Hamas is expected to meet with security officials in Egypt to find ways to reach a ceasefire agreement with Israel that could lead to the release of Palestinian prisoners.
Progress has not been limited to a series of online discussions for several months.
Hamas is looking for an agreement to end the war, while the Prime Minister of Israel, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, says that the war will only end when Hamas is destroyed.
Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 43,000 people and displaced nearly all at once, Gaza officials say. Large parts of Gaza are in ruins.
The conflict began 13 months ago when Hamas-led forces attacked areas of southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and arresting more than 250, according to Israeli officials.
(Reporting by Nidal Al Mughrabi, Ahmed Mohamed Hassan, Adam Makary and Menna Alaa in Cairo and Emily Rose in Jerusalem; Additional reporting by Lucia Mutikani in Washington Editing by Toby Chopra, Frances Kerry and Diane Craft)