TEL AVIV, Israel — Two back-to-back Israeli airstrikes in the northern Gaza city of Beit Lahiya killed at least nine people on Saturday, according to Gaza civil defense. A London-based aid organization confirmed eight of those killed were staff members, saying they were carrying out charity work.
The Israeli military says it was targeting two terrorists operating a drone in the area. In a statement, it says it hit those individuals, and then struck again when "a number of additional terrorists" collected the drone operating equipment and entered a vehicle.
But the head of Gaza civil defense, Mahmoud Basal, told NPR they were aid workers from the UK-based Al-Khair Foundation, along with several journalists working with the group.
"They had been wanting to build some tents for the displaced people in the area, and they had been using the drone to shoot and take coordinates of the place," Basal says.
In a video statement on the group's Facebook page, the founder of Al-Khair Foundation, Qasim Rashid Ahmad, confirmed that eight members working with the organization had been killed, saying they had been documenting how to add an additional 1,000 tents to the area. He said some of them were staff, while others were volunteers, including cameramen for filming, and local journalists.
"They were filming for a humanitarian purpose. They were not filming in a military zone. They were not filming in a public area," he said. "All of them were purely on humanitarian missions."
The area where the strike happened is designated as a 'free movement area' by the Israeli military, far from the "buffer zone" along the outer edges of Gaza where movement is restricted.
Ahmad went on to explain that the workers had been carrying out the project specifically as it is the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is also a month of charity.
In a statement released Sunday morning, the Israeli military reiterated it struck a "terrorist cell," including an individual who had participated in the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that sparked the current war, and individuals it said were "terrorists who operated under the cover of journalists." It said the group had been using the drone to carry out attacks against Israeli forces in Gaza.
The Al-Khair Foundation denies the group had any political affiliation.
In a statement on the militant group's Telegram channel, Hamas called the strikes an "escalation" and a "deliberate sabotage of any opportunity to complete the [ceasefire] agreement's implementation."
The attack comes as negotiations for the continuation of the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which began on January 19, have stalled. The first phase of the deal expired earlier this month, and Hamas has been pushing for the second phase to begin. Israel is refusing, and calling for a new plan, which does not have a provision for a long-term end to the conflict — something Hamas is adamant about.
This is not the first time that Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire during the nearly two-month ceasefire, but it is the deadliest single incident thus far. More than 150 Palestinians have been killed by Israel during the ceasefire, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
Meanwhile, Israel's blockade of aid on Gaza — including electricity — is entering its third week. Israel imposed the blockade as a way to pressure Hamas to agree to the deal that it wants. International aid groups say the blockade is having devastating effects on the two million Palestinians in Gaza, where conditions were already dire after more than 15 months of war, calling it collective punishment and a violation of international law.
NPR's Anas Baba contributed reporting from Gaza, Itay Stern from Tel Aviv, Ahmed Abuhamda in Cairo, and Abu Bakr Bashir in London
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