At least eight Palestinians working for the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation have died in an ambush that the troubled food distribution operation blamed on Hamas.
A bus carrying about two dozen GHF workers was attacked on Wednesday night as it headed to an aid centre in southern Gaza, the foundation said. In addition to the eight fatalities, many others were injured or kidnapped, it said.
Separately, the local health authority said 103 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire and 400 wounded in the past 24 hours across the war-torn enclave – including 21 people killed on Thursday morning near GHF sites.
“Hamas murdered five humanitarian workers from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, with others being kidnapped,” said Cogat, the Israeli defence agency that co-ordinates humanitarian issues with the Palestinians. “The international community cannot ignore Hamas’s crimes against humanitarian workers.”
GHF’s interim director John Acree said his organisation had considered closing its centres on Thursday following the bus attack, but opted to remain open. “We decided that the best response to Hamas’ cowardly murderers was to keep delivering food for the people of Gaza who are counting on us,” he said in a statement.
The Palestinian militant group, which controls Gaza, declined to comment on the shootings.
Social media channels in Gaza said Hamas had targeted the bus because it was allegedly carrying people affiliated with Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of a large clan which has challenged Hamas’s supremacy in the enclave and is being armed by Israel.
[ Israel confirms it is arming 'clans' in Gaza to fight HamasOpens in new window ]
The Israeli military said it was continuing to target Hamas fighters in Gaza, killing three militants who fired an anti-tank missile towards its soldiers, and hitting a building near a medical centre that it said was being used to make weapons.
Meanwhile, Israel has deported six more activists who were detained when it seized an aid boat bound for the Gaza Strip. They include Rima Hassan, a MEP who Israel had previously barred from entering Israel and the Palestinian territories, citing her support for boycotts of the country.
They were among 12 passengers, including climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, aboard the Madleen, a boat that sought to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza and deliver a symbolic amount of aid.
Israel seized the vessel early on Monday and deported Ms Thunberg and three others the following day.
In Egypt, authorities have reportedly deported dozens of foreign nationals who arrived in the country to take part in a pro-Palestinian march and dozens more face deportation.
Hundreds of people came to Egypt this week for the Global March to Gaza, an international initiative intended to exert pressure for an end to an Israeli blockade of the Palestinian enclave and draw attention to the humanitarian crisis there.
Organisers said people from 80 countries were set to begin the march to Egypt’s Rafah Crossing with Gaza and confirmed some had been deported or were detained at the airport.
Airport sources said at least 73 foreign nationals had been deported on a flight to Istanbul after authorities said they violated entry protocols, and that about 100 more were at the airport awaiting deportation.
Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz told the military on Wednesday to prevent demonstrators entering Gaza from Egypt, and said the march was a threat to Israeli and regional security.
Early on Thursday, Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s government survived an attempt to dissolve parliament.
Most of his Likud Party’s ultra-Orthodox coalition partners joined him in voting against a bill that would have forced them to register for military service while the country is at war. The ultra-Orthodox parties had been angry that the government has failed to pass a law exempting their community from mandatory military service.
Israel’s opposition had hoped the public anger over the exemptions would help topple the government. But just two of the 18 ultra-Orthodox members of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, supported the bill to dissolve.
The vote means no other bill to dissolve parliament can be submitted for at least six months, shoring up Mr Netanyahu’s embattled coalition.
The vote was the most serious challenge to the government since the October 7th, 2023, attack by Hamas, the biggest security failure in Israel’s history and the trigger for the ongoing war in Gaza. – Reuters
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