Eight workers dead in Hamas attack, U.S.-backed aid group says

A Hamas attack on aid workers in Gaza left at least eight dead, the interim head of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF, said on Thursday. A bus carrying over two dozen GHF team members was headed to an aid center west of Khan Yunis on Wednesday night when Hamas forces attacked it, the U.S.-backed aid group said in an earlier statement posted by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The team included Palestinians and Americans. The dead had not been publicly identified on Thursday morning, but U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said they were Palestinian. Several other aid workers suffered injuries in the attack, and GHF feared that some had been taken hostage, according to its interim head John Acree.

Is GHF continuing aid distribution? The aid group kept its three distribution sites in Gaza open on Thursday, handing out more than 2.6 million meals without incident, its executive chairman said.

GHF paused aid distribution for 24 hours a few days ago, due to concern over Hamas threats, the Jewish News Syndicate reported. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry also recently accused the Israeli military of killing 17 Palestinians near a GHF aid center, a charge the military denied on Tuesday, according to the news outlet.

How did authorities react? Huckabee said the attack showed that Hamas would murder and starve its own people to remain in power. The Israeli government questioned why the United Nations had not issued a statement condemning the attack.

Dig deeper: Read my recent report on the Israeli military’s investigation into how the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terror attacks unfolded at a border kibbutz.