THREE British volunteers are feared dead after a convoy of cars belonging to a charity was blasted in Gaza.
A blood-stained UK passport was uncovered in the aftermath of the suspected Israeli airstrike on Monday.
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Six aid workers from the UK, Australia, and Poland, dual citizens of the US and Canada, and their Palestinian driver were killed while travelling in a deconflicted zone, charity World Central Kitchen said.
Two UK nationals have been confirmed dead. According to the Associated Press, three Brits were killed.
The volunteers were in two armoured cars branded with the WCK logo after unloading more than 100 tonnes of humanitarian food aid at a warehouse in Deir al-Balah.
Shocking footage showed the victims’ bodies, several wearing protective gear with the charity’s logo on, at a hospital in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah.
Haunting images show bloodied passports of some of the victims – among them a British one – found among the debris.
Charred WCK uniforms were also found in the car wreckage.
José Andrés – who founded international food charity WCK – said the workers had been killed “in an IDF air strike”.
Gaza’s Hamas-run media officer also pointed the finger at Israel.
Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom was named as one of the seven killed.
WCK chief executive Erin Gore said in a statement: “This is not only an attack against WCK, this is an attack on humanitarian organisations showing up in the most dire of situations where food is being used as a weapon of war.
“This is unforgivable.
“I am heartbroken and appalled that we-World Central Kitchen and the world-lost beautiful lives today because of a targeted attack by the IDF.
“The love they had for feeding people, the determination they embodied to show that humanity rises above all, and the impact they made in countless lives will forever be remembered and cherished.”
The IDF says it is “carrying out an in-depth examination at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of this tragic incident”.
WCK suspended all its operations immediately in the region.
Earlier the charity said: “This is a tragedy. Humanitarian aid workers and civilians should never be a target. Ever.
“We will share more information when we have gathered all the facts.”
On Monday, the IDF said: “Following the reports regarding the World Central Kitchen personnel in Gaza today, the IDF is conducting a thorough review at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of this tragic incident.
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“The IDF makes extensive efforts to enable the safe delivery of humanitarian aid, and has been working closely with World Central Kitchen in their vital efforts to provide food and humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.”
The deadly strike came just hours after the devastating aftermath of a two-week raid on Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital was revealed for the first time.
Israel Defence troops have withdrawn from the complex – leaving a trail of rotting corpses and bombed-out buildings behind them.
The IDF claimed to have killed around 200 militants and detained hundreds more after the stint of close-quarters fighting.
Unverified footage on social media showed corpses, some covered in dirty blankets, scattered around the charred remains of the hospital.
It showed ground heavily ploughed up, and numerous buildings outside the facility flattened or burned down.
Samir Basel, 43, speaking to Reuters via a chat app as he toured Al Shifa, said: “I haven’t stopped crying since I arrived here, horrible massacres were committed by the occupation here.”
“The place is destroyed, buildings have been burnt and destroyed. This place needs to be rebuilt – there is no Shifa hospital anymore.”
With access to Gaza’s biggest hospital – previously dubbed “the beating heart” of Hamas – severely restricted, the Israeli and Palestinian versions of events differ sharply.
Palestinian officials called the raid on a hospital a war crime, while Israeli officials said special forces units targeted a Hamas stronghold that was deliberately located among vulnerable civilians.
Thousands of Palestinians – 6,200 according to the Israeli military – had been sheltering in the complex, one of few locations in the north of Gaza with some access to electricity and water.
Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run Gaza media office, said Israeli forces had killed 400 Palestinians in and around the hospital including a woman doctor and her son, also a doctor, and put the facility out of action.
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He said: “They bulldozed the courtyards, burying dozens of bodies of martyrs in the rubble, turning the place into a mass graveyard.
“This is a crime against humanity.”
Israel ‘offers to release 800 Palestinian prisoners’
By NEHA DILLON
ISRAEL is considering releasing up to 800 Palestinian prisoners in return for 40 of the hostages snatched by Hamas on October 7.
Dozens of Palestinian criminals who could be freed are serving life sentences for terrorist attacks, according to Israeli media outlets.
After describing any exchange as “unrealistic” a few weeks prior, it is thought Israeli negotiators in Qatar have signed off on an American compromise.
It is still unclear exactly how many prisoners will be released by Israel, with some Israeli media outlets saying it is between 700 and 800.
Alongside the prisoner exchange, it is thought that Israel is now willing to discuss allowing Palestinian refugees to return to the northern half of the Gaza Strip.
A long list of currently unspecified conditions is suspected to be attached to civilians returning to the north of the Strip.
For example, it is unlikely that men will be allowed to return.
Israel has also maintained that it will not, under any circumstances, be agreeing to any deal that sees the withdrawal of the IDF from Gaza.
The leaders of Hamas are expected to take up to three days to accept or alter the proposal.
Previous talks between Hamas and Israel have failed to materialise due to Israel’s staunch stance on continuing the war to eradicate Hamas.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri has previously said that any deal they accept should include conditions for an end to the war.
Abu Zuhri said: “What America and the Occupation (Israel) want is to regain the captives without a commitment to end the aggression, which means the resumption of war, killing and destruction, and we can’t accept that.”