Israeli airstrike on Gaza aid convoy kills 5 transport employees

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) carried out an airstrike on a humanitarian aid convoy in Gaza, claiming it targeted "armed assailants" attempting to hijack the convoy. However, the charity behind the aid said those killed were employees of the transport company it partnered with.

As The Guardian reports, the convoy, organized by the U.S.-based NGO Anera, was delivering medical supplies and fuel to an Emirati-run hospital in Rafah on Thursday evening when it was struck. The route had been coordinated with the IDF under a deconfliction process meant to protect aid deliveries from attacks.

"This is a shocking incident," said Sandra Rasheed, Anera's country director for Palestine. "The convoy, coordinated and approved by Israeli authorities, included an Anera employee who was fortunately unharmed. Tragically, several individuals employed by our transport company partner were killed. They were in the lead vehicle of the convoy."

Reports from Gaza, which have not been confirmed, indicate that five people were killed in the airstrike.

The IDF acknowledged that the convoy’s route had been coordinated but stated that "armed assailants" had taken control of the lead vehicle, a Jeep. "After the takeover and further verification, a precise strike on the armed assailants' vehicle was carried out," the IDF statement said. "No damage was caused to the other vehicles, and the convoy reached its destination as planned. The strike removed the threat of the armed assailants seizing control of the humanitarian convoy."

The IDF claimed it contacted Anera following the incident, and Anera "verified that all of the convoy’s organization members and humanitarian aid were safe and reached their destination as planned."

Anera confirmed that the convoy reached the hospital but clarified that only one person traveling in the convoy was an Anera employee, while the rest were employees of its partner transport company, which was not named.

"We are urgently seeking further details about what happened," Rasheed added.

The airstrike on Anera's convoy occurred hours after Israeli soldiers fired on a World Food Programme (WFP) vehicle marked with UN insignia. The WFP vehicle, which was armored, was hit by at least 10 bullets while approaching an IDF checkpoint at Wadi Gaza. No one inside was injured, but the incident led the WFP to temporarily suspend staff movements around Gaza.

Cindy McCain, head of the WFP, condemned the shooting as "totally unacceptable" and criticized the current deconfliction system as failing.

This latest incident follows an airstrike on April 1, when the IDF killed seven aid workers in a drone attack on a convoy operated by World Central Kitchen. The IDF later admitted "grave errors" by its officers, who were fired, and acknowledged it had been informed of the planned convoy but failed to pass the information to operational units. The IDF also claimed that an officer mistakenly believed he saw a gunman on a truck’s roof based on grainy surveillance footage, though no gunman was present.

[Information sourced from The Guardian]