DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip -- Gaza medical officials say an apparent Israeli airstrike killed four international aid workers with the World Central Kitchen charity and their Palestinian driver after they helped deliver food and other supplies to northern Gaza that had arrived hours earlier by ship.
The Israeli military said it was conducting a review "to understand the circumstances of this tragic incident."
World Central Kitchen, the charity founded by celebrity chef José Andrés, said it was aware of the reports and would "share more information when we have gathered all the facts."
"This is a tragedy. Humanitarian aid workers and civilians should NEVER be a target. EVER," WCK spokeswoman Linda Roth said in a statement.
Footage showed the bodies of the five dead at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah. Several of them wore protective gear with the charity's logo. Staff members showed the passports of three of the dead -- British, Australian and Polish. The nationality of the fourth aid worker was not immediately known.
The workers' car was hit by an Israeli strike just after crossing from northern Gaza after helping deliver aid that had arrived hours earlier on a ship from Cyprus, Mahmoud Thabet, a paramedic from the Palestinian Red Crescent who was on the team that brought the bodies to the hospital, told The Associated Press. The source of fire could not be independently confirmed.
The aid ships that arrived Monday carried some 400 tons of food and supplies in a shipment organized by the United Arab Emirates and the World Central Kitchen. Last month a ship delivered 200 tons of aid in a pilot run. The Israeli military was involved in coordinating both deliveries.
The U.S. has touted the sea route as a new way to deliver desperately needed aid to northern Gaza, where several hundred Palestinians face imminent famine, largely cut off from the rest of the territory by Israeli forces. Israel has barred UNRWA, the main U.N. agency in Gaza, from making deliveries to the north, and other aid groups say sending truck convoys north has been too dangerous because of the military's failure to ensure safe passage.
HOSPITAL RAID ENDS
The Israeli military withdrew from Gaza's largest hospital early Monday after a two-week raid that engulfed the facility and surrounding districts in fighting. Footage showed widespread devastation, with the facility's main buildings reduced to burned-out husks.
The military has described the raid on Shifa Hospital as a major battlefield victory in the nearly six-month war, and officials said Israeli troops killed 200 militants in the operation, though the claim that they were all militants could not be confirmed.
The raid came at a time of mounting frustration in Israel, with tens of thousands protesting Sunday against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and demanding that he do more to bring home dozens of hostages held in Gaza. It was the largest anti-government demonstration since the start of the war.
The hospital raid gutted a facility that had once been the heart of Gaza's health care system but which doctors and staff had struggled to get even partially operating again after a previous Israeli assault in November.
Israel said it launched the latest raid on Shifa because senior Hamas operatives had regrouped there and were planning attacks. Israeli authorities identified six officials from Hamas' military wing they said were killed inside the hospital during the raid. Israel also said it seized weapons and valuable intelligence.
The raid triggered days of heavy fighting for blocks around Shifa, with witnesses reporting airstrikes, the shelling of homes and troops going house to house to force residents to leave.
After the troops withdrew, hundreds of Palestinians returned to search for lost loved ones or examine the damage.
Among the dead were Ahmed Maqadma and his mother -- both doctors at Shifa -- and his cousin, said Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta, a Palestinian-British doctor who volunteered at Shifa and other hospitals during the first months of the war before returning to Britain.
The fate of the three had been unknown since they talked by phone with family as they tried to leave Shifa nearly a week ago and the line suddenly went dead. On Monday, relatives found their bodies with gunshot wounds about a block from the hospital, said Abu Sitta, who is in touch with the family.
Mohammed Mahdi, who was among those who returned to the area, described a scene of "total destruction." He said several buildings had been burned down and that he counted six bodies in the area, including two in the hospital courtyard, though it was not clear when they died.
Video footage circulating online showed the main buildings of Shifa charred and heavily damaged. Several witnesses said army bulldozers had plowed up a mass grave that had been dug in November in Shifa's courtyard, leaving many bodies exposed.
At least 21 patients died during the raid, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted late Sunday on X, formerly Twitter.
He said over 100 patients were still inside the compound during the operation, including four children, 28 critical patients and many who suffered from infected wounds and dehydration.
The military denied that its forces harmed any civilians inside the compound. Israel has accused Hamas of using hospitals for military purposes and has raided many hospitals across the territory.
Critics accuse the army of recklessly endangering civilians and of decimating a health sector already overwhelmed with wounded.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the top military spokesperson, said Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad group established their main northern headquarters inside the hospital. He described days of close-quarters fighting and blamed Hamas for the destruction, saying some fighters barricaded themselves inside hospital wards while others launched mortar rounds at the compound.
Hagari said the troops arrested some 900 suspected militants during the raid, including more than 500 Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters, and seized over $3 million in different currencies, as well as weapons.
He said the army evacuated more than 200 of the estimated 300 to 350 patients and delivered food, water and medical supplies to the rest. Two Israeli soldiers were killed in the raid, the military said.
PRESSURE ON NETANYAHU
The war began on Oct. 7, when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 people hostage.
Israel responded with an air, land and sea offensive that has killed at least 32,845 Palestinians, around two-thirds of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. The Israeli military blames the civilian toll on Palestinian militants because they fight in dense residential areas.
The war has displaced most of the territory's population and driven a third of its residents to the brink of famine. Northern Gaza, where Shifa is located, has suffered vast destruction and has been largely isolated since October, leading to widespread hunger.
Netanyahu has vowed to keep up the offensive until Hamas is destroyed and all hostages are freed. He says Israel will soon expand ground operations to the southern city of Rafah, where some 1.4 million people -- more than half of Gaza's population -- have sought refuge.
But he faces mounting pressure from Israelis who blame him for the security failures of Oct. 7 and from some families of the hostages who blame him for the failure to reach a deal despite several weeks of talks mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt. Allied countries, including main backer the United States, have warned him against an invasion of Rafah.
Hamas and other militants are still believed to be holding some 100 hostages and the remains of 30 others, after freeing most of the rest during a cease-fire last November in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
U.S.-ISRAELI TALKS
Top American and Israeli officials held virtual talks Monday as the U.S. pushed alternatives to the ground assault against Hamas under consideration by Israelis in Rafah.
President Joe Biden and his administration have publicly and privately urged Israel for months to refrain from a large-scale incursion into Rafah without a credible plan to relocate and safeguard noncombatants. Netanyahu has insisted that Israeli forces must be able to enter the city to root out Hamas' remaining battalions.
The more than 2½-hour meeting by secure videoconference was described by both sides as constructive and productive, as Washington encourages the Israelis to avoid an all-out assault on the city, where an estimated four battalions of Hamas fighters are dispersed among more than 1.3 million civilians. The White House has instead pushed Israel to take more targeted actions to kill or capture Hamas leaders while limiting the impact on civilians.
The potential operation in the city has exposed one of the deepest rifts between Israel and its closest ally, funder and arms supplier. The U.S. has already openly said Israel must do more to allow food and other goods through its blockade of Gaza to avert famine.
"They agreed that they share the objective to see Hamas defeated in Rafah," the U.S. and Israeli teams known as the Strategic Consultative Group said in a joint statement released by the White House. "The U.S. side expressed its concerns with various courses of action in Rafah. The Israeli side agreed to take these concerns into account and to have follow up discussions between experts overseen by the SCG. The follow-up discussions would include in person SCG meeting as early as next week."
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken chaired the meeting for the U.S. side. The Israeli side was led by Israeli national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Minister for Strategic Affairs and Netanyahu confidant Ron Dermer.
Information for this article was contributed by Wafaa Shurafa, Samy Magdy, Tia Goldenberg and Zeke Miller of The Associated Press.
Palestinians walk through the destruction left by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip near Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Monday, April 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Hajjar)
This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows an overview Al Shifa hospital and surroundings in Gaza City, on Monday, April 1, 2024. (Maxar Technologies via AP)
A man holds up a sign during a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and to call for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group near the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem, Monday, April 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Palestinians walk through the destruction left by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip near Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Monday, April 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Hajjar)
This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows an overview of Al Shifa hospital and surroundings in Gaza city, on Wednesday, June 1, 2022. (Maxar Technologies via AP)
This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows an overview of Al Shifa hospital and surroundings in Gaza City, on Monday, April 1, 2024. (Maxar Technologies via AP)
Palestinians walk through the destruction left by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip near Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Monday, April 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Hajjar)
People take part in a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and call for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group outside of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem, Sunday, March 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
A man holds up a sign during a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and to call for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group near the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem, Monday, April 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)