Israel conducts double strike on aid security teams in northern Gaza, killing 5

In one of its largest attacks on aid security personnel since the start of the war on Gaza, Israeli aircraft carried out two simultaneous strikes on Wednesday, hitting teams in the Saftawy area of northern Gaza City and in Karama, northwest of the city, eyewitnesses told Mada Masr. The strikes have killed at least five people, according to Gaza officials. 

The aid security groups, some of which are coordinated by families and clans in the northern governorates of Gaza, play a crucial role in ensuring that the little aid that does enter the strip reaches warehouses for wider distribution.

Israeli surveillance aircraft fired on an aid security team as they waited for aid trucks set to arrive through the Zikim crossing in northern Gaza en route to international relief agency warehouses.

One eyewitness told Mada Masr that at around 1 pm, a powerful explosion was heard in the Saftawy area, where several security team members had been gathered. Thick smoke filled the air along with the cries of the injured, they said. 

When the smoke cleared, it became evident that many had been killed and others wounded, including civilians. Bodies lay scattered across the street, the eyewitness said. “ I counted eight dead,” the eyewitness said. 

Some of the injured were rushed to northern Gaza’s Sheikh Radwan Clinic in civilian cars before ambulances arrived minutes later to collect the bodies.

Concurrently, Israeli aircraft struck another aid security group in the Karama area. 

Several security personnel had been standing near the Andalus Tower in northern Karama, awaiting aid trucks, Mahmoud Adas, who witnessed the attack, said. The location, he noted, is somewhat far from Israeli troops’ positions, but was nonetheless struck by a surveillance aircraft flying overhead, killing many on the spot. 

Faris Afanah, head of ambulance and emergency services in northern Gaza, told Mada Masr that emergency teams recovered one body and several wounded from the Karama strike, along with four bodies and six wounded from Saftawy. He confirmed that civilians had transported other victims from both sites to medical facilities in their own cars.

The Israel military has repeatedly targeted aid convoy security teams, whether organized by Hamas police or other community initiatives, throughout nearly two years of war. 

The targeting has disrupted the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid to international organizations’ warehouses and ultimately prevented its distribution. Deaths due to malnutrition, many among children, have accelerated over recent weeks as families and medics struggle to care for one another six months into Israel’s aid blockade. 

Israeli aircraft struck a vehicle carrying aid security personnel in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah on Sunday, killing everyone inside and wounding several civilians.

The repeated attacks have fueled a surge in looting by armed gangs — stealing supplies and attacking aid-seekers in full view of Israeli forces, in some instances.