Israel attacks aid convoy of a US aid organization and kills five people

The convoy delivered medical supplies and fuel to an Emirati-run hospital in Rafah, Palestine Country Director Sandra Rasheed said in the statement to The Washington Post, and its route was coordinated with the Israel Defense Forces.

“The convoy also included an Anera employee who fortunately was unharmed,” she added.

Thursday's deadly attack in the southern Gaza Strip came just days after a World Food Programme truck was shot at in the enclave and amid an increasingly tense situation in which humanitarian organizations are operating.

In its report on the incident, the Israeli army said the gunmen hijacked the convoy's lead vehicle, triggering the attack.

“As the convoy was moving, armed militants took control of a vehicle at the head of the convoy,” the Israel Defense Forces said. “They were attacked. Other vehicles in the convoy were not damaged and the convoy reached its destination as planned.”

The Israeli military said the “attack on the militants eliminated the threat to the humanitarian convoy.”

Humanitarian organizations delivering urgently needed aid in Gaza have been repeatedly attacked during the war, raising concerns about the route coordination system and the Israeli forces' approach to the conflict. According to the United Nations, more than 280 humanitarian workers have been killed since the war in Gaza began in October.

Seven World Central Kitchen aid workers were killed in an Israeli airstrike that made headlines around the world in April, when Israeli forces mistakenly believed the convoy was carrying militants.

Mousa Shawwa, an Anera worker and logistics coordinator in Gaza, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on March 8 while he was in a shelter where there was no longer any conflict, Sean Carroll, the aid group's CEO, told the Washington Post at the time. The aid worker's 6-year-old son, Karim, also died 10 days later from injuries sustained in the attack, he said.

Thursday's incident is one of several such attacks this week. In a statement to the UN Security Council on Thursday, US representative Robert Wood referred, according to UN officials, to an incident that occurred on Sunday in which the Israeli army fired on a UNICEF vehicle, Wood said.

At least 10 shots were fired at a World Food Programme vehicle on Tuesday. The United Nations blamed Israel and prompted the WFP to temporarily halt the movements of its staff in the Gaza Strip. Wood said the Biden administration was “deeply disturbed” by Tuesday's shooting and called on Israel to “immediately address the problems within its system that allowed this to happen.”

In the West Bank, Israeli forces said they killed Wesam Khazem, the head of Hamas activities in Jenin, after a brief exchange of fire. Two others were hit by supporting aircraft as they fled from the car.

Hamas confirmed the three deaths in a statement and witnesses released photos of the bombed vehicle.

The Israeli military said real-time intelligence on Friday enabled them to pinpoint Khazem's route along a road south of Jenin. The 28-year-old was the highest-ranking Hamas official in the city, according to the Israeli military and people in Jenin familiar with Khazem's role in the militant group.

Israel said Khazem played a direct role in numerous shootings and bombings in the West Bank and described him as one of the main targets of Israeli forces.

Relatives told The Washington Post that Hazem holds a Norwegian passport but has chosen to remain in the region despite a series of intense Israeli attacks on Jenin. The Norwegian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request to confirm Hazem's status.

Khazem's killing follows the death on Thursday of another prominent Palestinian militant commander, Mohamed Jaber, also known as Abu Shuja'a. Jaber, 26, who led the Tulkarm Battalion, an umbrella group of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, was killed when Israeli troops stormed the mosque where he was hiding in the Nur al-Shams camp.