Israeli strike kills 4 in aid convoy to Gaza hospital. Israel says men were armed

A Palestinian woman touches the body of a relative in a white body bag.

By Jon Gambrell

Aug. 30, 2024 Updated 1:48 PM PT

DUBAI — An Israeli military strike hit the first vehicle in a convoy carrying medical supplies and fuel to an Emirati hospital in the Gaza Strip, killing four Palestinians from a local transportation company, officials said Friday.

The Israeli military said the four men were carrying weapons, while the American Near East Refugee Aid group, known as Anera, said the missile strike Thursday came without warning or prior communication with soldiers.

The incident underlines the chaotic situation prevailing in the Gaza Strip and the dangers posed to aid groups since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel.

More than 80% of the Palestinian territory’s 2.3 million people have been displaced, with most now living in squalid tent camps. International experts say hundreds of thousands of people are on the brink of famine.

The strike happened as the aid group was bringing supplies to the Emirates Red Crescent Hospital in the town of Rafah, said Sandra Rasheed, Anera’s director for the Palestinian territories. It hit the convoy’s first vehicle on the Salah al Din Road, she said.

“The convoy, which was coordinated by Anera and approved by Israeli authorities, included an Anera employee who was fortunately unharmed,” Rasheed said in a statement. “Despite this devastating incident, our understanding is that the remaining vehicles in the convoy were able to continue and successfully deliver the aid to the hospital. We are urgently seeking further details about what happened.”

A later statement from Anera said four Palestinians were killed. The group said its “coordinated and cleared transport plan called for unarmed security guards in the convoy” with its local partner, a company called Move One.

“Shortly after departing Kerem Shalom, initial reports indicate that four community members with experience in previous missions and engagement in community security with Move One stepped forward and requested to take command of the leading vehicle, citing concern that the route was unsafe and at risk of being looted,” Anera said.

“The four community members were neither vetted nor coordinated in advance, and Israeli authorities allege that the lead car was carrying numerous weapons. The Israeli airstrike was carried out without any prior warning or communication.”

Anera did not elaborate. Other aid convoys have been beset by armed gangs and those desperate for food in Gaza.

The Israeli military, responding to questions from the Associated Press, said it had been “monitoring the situation” and saw that “armed individuals joined one of the cars of an Anera convoy and began to lead the convoy.”

“The presence of armed individuals was not coordinated, and they were not part of the pre-coordinated convoy — as noted in Anera’s statement regarding the incident,” the Israeli military said. “After ruling out potential harm to the trucks, as well as a clear identification of weapons, a strike was carried out targeting the armed individuals.”

The Israeli military did not address why it didn’t contact Anera before conducting the strike.

The United Arab Emirates, which reached a diplomatic recognition deal with Israel in 2020 and has been providing aid to Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began, did not comment on the attack.

Israeli forces have opened fire on other aid convoys in the Gaza Strip. The World Food Program announced Wednesday it is pausing all staff movement in Gaza until further notice over Israeli troops opening fire on one of its marked vehicles, hitting it with at least 10 rounds. The shooting came despite having received multiple clearances from Israeli authorities.

On July 23, UNICEF said two of its vehicles were hit with live ammunition while waiting at a designated holding point. An Israeli attack in April hit three World Central Kitchen vehicles, killing seven people.

West Bank violence

Palestinian health authorities say the death toll from Israel’s most intensive raid into the occupied West Bank since Oct. 7 has reached at least 20.

The Palestinian Health Ministry on Friday reported the killing by Israeli forces of “an elderly man” in the city of Jenin, without specifying his age, bringing the total death toll from the military raids in the occupied territory to 20 since late Tuesday. Israel says it has killed 20 Palestinian militants and arrested 17 others. Hamas has claimed at least 10 of those killed as its fighters.

The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, said the Palestinians killed in the West Bank raids included a person with disabilities and a number of children.

Palestinian health authorities also reported that a Palestinian doctor and two medics tending to patients in Jenin were wounded by Israeli fire.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the assertions.

The Israeli police on Friday said their special forces had killed Wissam Khazem, a Hamas commander in Jenin. Hamas claimed Khazem as a senior commander in its Jenin branch, confirming his killing and vowing revenge.

The Israeli military and police also said that two Palestinian militants in Jenin who tried to flee were killed in an airstrike.

Israeli forces have killed more than 663 Palestinians in the West Bank, including at least 150 children, since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, according to health authorities.

The climbing deaths in the West Bank drew further international criticism of Israeli tactics on Friday, with European Union chief diplomat Josep Borrell saying that Israel’s operations were “worsening an already tense situation.”

“Any escalation is a disaster in the making,” he said. “Israel’s genuine security concerns cannot justify civilian casualties and the destruction of infrastructure.”

The Israeli incursion in Jenin left a trail of destruction and cut off running water, internet and electricity in the city.

The Israeli military says the raids are necessary to crack down on surging Palestinian militancy in the northern West Bank. The Palestinians see them as a widening of the war in Gaza and an effort to perpetuate Israel’s decades-long military rule over the territory.

Gambrell writes for the Associated Press.