2 weeks Ago By JON GAMBRELLAssociated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — An Israeli military strike hit the first vehicle in a convoy carrying medical supplies and fuel to an Emirati hospital in the Gaza Strip, killing four Palestinians from a local transportation company, officials said Friday. The Israeli military insisted the four men were carrying weapons while the American Near East Refugee Aid group said the missile strike on Thursday came without any warning or prior communication with soldiers. The incident underlines the dangers posed to aid groups since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war following Hamas' Oct.
7 attack on southern Israel. More than 80% of the Palestinian territory's 2.3 million people have been displaced, with most now living in squalid tent camps.
International experts say hundreds of thousands of people are on the brink of famine. The strike happened as the aid group was bringing supplies to the Emirates Red Crescent Hospital in the town of Rafah, said Sandra Rasheed, Anera's director for the Palestinian territories. It hit the convoy's first vehicle on the Salah al-Din Road, she said.
"The convoy, which was coordinated by Anera and approved by Israeli authorities, included an Anera employee who was fortunately unharmed," Rasheed said. "Despite this devastating incident, our understanding is that the remaining vehicles in the convoy were able to continue and successfully deliver the aid to the hospital. We are urgently seeking further details about what happened.
" A later statement from Anera said four Palestinians were killed. The group said its "coordinated and cleared transport plan called for unarmed security guards in the convoy" with its local partner, a company called Move One. Meanwhile, Palestinian health authorities said the death toll from Israel's most intensive raid into the occupied West Bank since the start of the Israel-Hamas war reached at least 20.
Israel continued the operation in the flashpoint city of Jenin late Friday as international criticism mounted. The Palestinian Health Ministry reported that Israeli forces killed "an elderly man" in the city of Jenin, without specifying his age, bringing the total death toll from the military raids in the occupied territory to 20 since late Tuesday. Israel claims it killed 20 Palestinian militants and arrested 17 others.
Hamas claimed at least 10 of those killed as its fighters. Israeli forces have killed more than 660 Palestinians in the West Bank, including at least 150 children, since the start of the Israel Hamas war..
