Six members of a security aid team were killed early Friday in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, due to an Israeli air strike, as reported by the Government Media Office.
The statement, sent to Safa news agency, described the incident as “a horrific massacre” and accused the Israeli military of deliberately targeting the team as part of a strategy to “engineer starvation and obstruct humanitarian relief”.
The office condemned the attack, reporting that the Israeli army carried out eight air strikes in the area. Several victims remain at the scene, which has become difficult to access due to continued shelling and ongoing gunfire from Israeli aircraft.
“These individuals were performing purely humanitarian duties,” the statement added, “by securing two trucks carrying vital medicines and medical supplies for the health sector, to ensure their delivery to hospitals in devastated areas. Targeting them is a full-fledged crime that exposes the true intent of the occupation to disrupt the flow of humanitarian and medical aid and to create chaos and insecurity in line with its plan to starve the population and deny treatment to the sick.”
The office further stressed that the Israeli military is systematically enabling the looting of aid and medical convoys by attacking those responsible for coordinating and protecting safe delivery routes.