Hamas accused Israel of targeting aid distribution sites to “terrorise” humanitarian organisations and stop them from helping the starving people of Gaza.

“We call on the international community and UN Security Council to denounce this heinous act, and to move towards putting an end to the occupation’s crimes and aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip,” Hamas said in a statement.

At least 196 humanitarian workers have now been killed in Gaza since October, according to the United Nations. Israel has been widely accused of holding up aid earmarked for Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians face famine.

American Near East Refugee Aid (Anera) is one humanitarian organisation among many that decided to halt its work in Gaza after the killing of seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen.

“This is something that we were forced to do to ensure our safety,” Sandra Rasheed, Anera’s Palestine country director, told Al Jazeera. “Our staff have guided our work, and they, themselves, feel like there’s a target on their backs.”

Rasheed said the decision to suspend operations was difficult because the situation for Palestinians worsens each day. She said her organisation was distributing close to 150,000 hot meals a day.

“I think the more that we have time to process this, the more surprising and shocking it is that three convoy vehicles were hit by three different bombs – through the roof of their car, which indicates a targeted killing,” she said.

“We are waiting to have some assurance from Israel and from the international community that doing this life-saving work will not constitute putting a target on our staff’s back.”

Palestinians fear food aid fallout after Israeli convoy killings

Israel’s air raids on the World Central Kitchen convoy that killed seven aid workers, including a Polish national, is undermining ties between Israel and Poland, says the country’s prime minister.

In a post on X, Donald Tusk said while the “vast majority of Poles showed full solidarity with Israel after the Hamas attack” on October 7, this solidarity is now being put “to a really hard test”.

“The tragic attack on volunteers and your reaction arouse understandable anger,” he said.

Prosecutors in Przemysl, where Polish aid worker Damian Sobol is from, are independently investigating the circumstances of his killing in Gaza, Deputy District Prosecutor Beata Starzecka has told Poland’s PAP press agency.

Sobol, 35, was among seven aid workers killed by a succession of Israeli air strikes on their convoy in an attack that Poland’s prime minister said is putting Israel and Poland’s relations “to a hard test”.

The Israeli military has called the attack a “mistake” and promised to investigate how it happened. An investigation by Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification agency has found the attack was intentional.

Poland summons Israeli envoy over aid worker’s death: Report

Questions in Israel over who ordered aid convoy strikes

In Israel, there’s been very little reaction to allegations that the attack on the World Central Kitchen convoy was deliberate.

However, there is a brewing controversy about how this actually happened. Whenever there is an Israeli military strike, there is a clear command-and-control structure. Someone in the command centre, a senior military person, needs to sign off on any strike that happens on vehicles. This is just standard practice.

So there was either a clear failure of that command-and-control structure or the attack was deliberate, which is what people are discussing right now.

If you speak to the Americans, the British, the Canadians, the Poles, and the Australians – whose citizens were killed in the attack – they are really pushing for a clear investigation. They want to know how this actually happened.

However, will the public see the results of the investigation, or will the Israelis say to the countries involved: “We’re going to give you the results, but we can’t make them public.”

Who authorised the Israeli air strikes on the aid convoy in Gaza?

Spanish PM: Israel’s explanation of aid worker attack ‘insufficient and unacceptable”

Jose Andres, the celebrity chef who founded World Central Kitchen, penned an op-ed for Israeli news site Ynet following the Israeli attack on his organisation’s aid convoy that killed seven staff.

“The air strikes on our convoy were not just some unfortunate mistake in the fog of war. It was a direct attack on clearly marked vehicles whose movements were known by the [Israeli military],” writes Andres. “It was also the direct result of his [PM Netanyahu’s] government’s policy to squeeze humanitarian aid to desperate levels.”

He adds: “Israel is better than the way this war is being waged. It is better than blocking food and medicine to civilians. It is better than killing aid workers who coordinate their movements.

“The Israeli government needs to open land routes to food and medicine today. It needs to stop killing civilians and aid workers today. It needs to start the long journey to peace today.”

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last night following the killing of foreign aid workers, including three British citizens, saying he is “appalled”.

“Too many aid workers and innocent civilians have lost their lives in Gaza, the situation is becoming unbearable,” a government statement quoted Sunak as saying.

“The UK expects to see immediate action by Israel to end restrictions on humanitarian aid, deconflict with the UN and aid agencies, protect civilians, and repair vital infrastructure like hospitals and water networks.”

Sunak “reiterated that Israel’s rightful aim of defeating Hamas would not be achieved by allowing a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza”.

The US does not expect the Israeli strike that killed seven World Central Kitchen workers in Gaza to impact talks on an Israel-Hamas ceasefire and releases of captives and Palestinian prisoners, the White House says.

“The ceasefire and hostage negotiations are ongoing,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters at a briefing. “I wouldn’t anticipate any particular impact on those discussions as a result of the strike yesterday.”

Translation: There won't be a ceasefire. Just like Israel, the US has enjoyed impunity for far too long. Who is going to hold the USA accountable though. Just as with Russia the UNSC is powerless due to vetoes. The whole political side of the UN only serves to control other countries.

The three main British opposition parties and some lawmakers in the governing party have urged the British government to consider suspending arms sales.

The Liberal Democrats called for arms exports to Israel to be suspended, while the Scottish National Party also backed that move and said parliament should be recalled from its Easter break to discuss the crisis.

The main opposition Labour Party, who polls suggest will form the next government later this year, adopted a nuanced approach, saying the government should suspend arms sales if lawyers have found Israel had broken international law.

Most UK voters support ban on arms exports to Israel: Poll

Undelivered Gaza aid returned to Cyprus

World Central Kitchen founder says Israel targeted his aid workers ‘systematically’

Gaza’s media office says it released updated “key figures” to mark 180 days since Israel launched its deadly assault on the besieged enclave.

Here are some of the most notable figures, according to the office:

• At least 32,975 Palestinians have been killed, including 14,500 children.
• Thousands more remain missing or trapped under the rubble.
• At least 484 medical staff members have been killed.
• More than 75,500 Palestinians have sustained injuries.
• Around 17,000 children have lost either one or both parents.
• More than one million people have been affected by infectious diseases due to repeated displacement.
• More than 300 medical staff members and 12 journalists have been arrested by Israeli forces.
• At least two million Palestinians are now internally displaced in Gaza.
• 70,000 housing units have been completely destroyed.

Israel’s use of Lavender system is ‘an AI-assisted genocide’: Expert

Open Arms, the Spanish NGO working with World Central Kitchen, whose aid workers were the victims of Israel’s attack, posted a tribute on X.

“The end of mission 110 arrives, the one we never could have imagined, the most painful. We miss Saifeddin, Zomi, Damian, Jacob, John, Jim, and James, but they will remain forever in our memory”

The NGO added that it will continue to speak up for the seven aid workers, the more than 32,500 people killed in Gaza, the hundreds of humanitarian workers, the destroyed hospitals, journalists and all the ‘isolated cases’ that are not just accidents, but “part of a structure of death and destruction”.

The end of mission 110 arrives, the one we never could have imagined, the most painful.
We miss Saifeddin, Zomi, Damian, Jacob, John, Jim, and James, but they will remain forever in our memory, and we will continue to speak up for them, for the more than 32,500 people killed in… pic.twitter.com/WySm6yY2LC

— Open Arms ENG (@openarms_found) April 3, 2024

WCK aid worker killings are a ‘message to the world’

Dennis Francis, the president of the UN General Assembly, says he is “deeply concerned about the risk of escalation following the recent attack in Damascus”.

Francis called for “restraint to avoid further harm and suffering to the people in the Middle East”.

“The inviolability of diplomatic premises and diplomatic staff must be respected at all times,” said Francis, who is the current president of the 193-member UN General Assembly.

The Israeli army is reportedly calling up reservists for its Iron Dome and other air defence systems as Iran has promised to respond to an alleged Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.

Deeply concerned about the risk of escalation following the recent attack in Damascus.

The inviolability of diplomatic premises and diplomatic staff must be respected at all times.

I call for restraint to avoid further harm and suffering to the people in the Middle East.

— UN GA President (@UN_PGA) April 4, 2024

Spokesperson suggests US will not support Palestine’s bid for full UN membership