This week's airstrike against a food convoy adds to Gaza's already high death toll for aid workers
UN says some 200 aid workers killed since start of Israel-Hamas war
An Israeli attack that killed a team of mostly international aid workers this week in Gaza has ignited global outrage. But their deaths follow months of attacks that have claimed the lives of hundreds of Palestinians doing similar work in the war-torn territory.
Israel has said the strike against the World Central Kitchen (WCK) convoy was an accident — a claim supported by the U.S. but refuted by others including WCK founder José Andrés who alleges the vehicles were "systematically" targeted.
Andrés said the seven deaths add to an already staggering number of Palestinian humanitarian workers killed since Israel declared war against Hamas, in retaliation for the Oct. 7 attacks.
One of the slain WCK workers was a Palestinian. Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, who was from Rafah in southern Gaza, had only been working as a driver and translator for the group for a few months, according to his family.
According to the United Nations, he was one of the some 200 humanitarian aid workers killed in Gaza since the war began.
Most of them, 173, worked for the UN Relief Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the principal aid agency in Gaza.
UNRWA had approximately 13,000 staffers in Gaza before the outset of the war, providing humanitarian assistance, health care, education, social services and emergency relief.
Israel has accused UNRWA staff of being involved in the Oct. 7 attacks, which led to several nations, including Canada, to temporarily suspend their funding to the agency. Israel has also prevented UNRWA from distributing food and humanitarian aid in the besieged northern part of the territory.
Other groups that have suffered losses include the Palestine Red Crescent Society which, in a recent online post, said 26 of its people have died in the conflict, 15 of which it alleged, without providing more detail, were "targeted" by Israel.
Doctors Without Borders says five of its Palestinian staff and volunteers have been killed so far — including two who died in an attack on the al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza.
"Nowhere in Gaza is safe. Israeli forces have repeatedly attacked health workers and medical facilities, making it nearly impossible for us to continue to provide lifesaving humanitarian assistance," Doctors Without Borders said on its website last month.
Further to that, Israeli military strikes and assaults on medical facilities and ambulances in Gaza — which Israel claims have been used by militant groups — have resulted in some 350 Palestinian medical workers being killed, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
WCK, in co-operation with the United Arab Emirates and the Spanish non-government organization OpenArms, recently led its second aid flotilla through a new maritime humanitarian corridor between Cyprus and Gaza.
Its convoy had just been loaded with food from a nearby warehouse, near the city of Deir al-Balah, when the Israeli strikes hit.
Their vehicles, two of which were armoured, were clearly identified with WCK's logo and the team's movements were known to the Israeli military, says Andrés.
Those are steps humanitarian workers use to try to ensure their safety in the dangerous region, says Chris Skopec, executive vice president of global health at Project HOPE, which operates health clinics in Gaza.
He says the strike against the WCK convoy has increased apprehension among aid workers in the region.
WCK has paused operations in Gaza and the flotilla has returned to Cyprus, at a time when UN agencies have warned parts of the territory are facing the imminent risk of famine.
Other humanitarian groups are making similar decisions.
Anera, a partner of WCK that provides humanitarian aid in the Middle East, said Tuesday it would take the "unprecedented step" of pausing its humanitarian operations in Gaza.
"The blatant nature of the attack on WCK's convoy has proven that aid workers are currently under attack," said Anera spokesperson Steve Fake. "Our decision to resume aid relies on the safety of our staff."
The International Medical Corps, which has one of the largest field hospitals in Rafah with 140 beds, said it is "rethinking" its process, including its plans to set up another field hospital in Deir al-Balah.
"It puts us [in] a very uncertain position in terms of our co-ordination with the different actors for security," said Dr. Zawar Ali, who runs the organization's Rafah hospital.
The killing of humanitarian and medical workers has raised questions about Israel is violating international law which, under a number of conventions and treaties, says intentionally attacking personnel and material involved in humanitarian assistance is a war crime — as long as those providing the aid are civilians.
Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the chief of general staff for the Israel Defence Force, said the strikes were "a mistake that followed a misidentification — at night during a war in very complex conditions."
Andrés rejects that claim.
"Even if we were not in co-ordination with the [Israel Defence Forces], no democratic country and no military can be targeting civilians and humanitarians," he said.
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With files from Reuters and The Associated Press