The World Central Kitchen announced on Saturday the suspension of its relief activities in the Gaza Strip, after an Israeli air strike killed three of its employees.

Earlier today, a medical source reported that 5 Palestinians, including 3 employees of the "Global Central Kitchen", were killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a vehicle on Salah al-Din Street, northeast of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

The raid caused significant damage to the vehicle and the surrounding area, killing 3 people inside it and two citizens passing by.

In its first comment on the matter, the World Central Kitchen said in a statement: “It is with great sadness that we announce that a vehicle carrying colleagues from our organization was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza.”

“Our hearts and thoughts are with our colleagues and their families at this unimaginably difficult time,” she added.

In response to allegations by the Israeli military that one of the people in the vehicle it targeted was involved in the October 7, 2023 attack, the organization confirmed in its statement that it “has no knowledge of any alleged connection” between its employees who were in the vehicle and the aforementioned attack.

She added: "In light of this tragic incident, we announce the temporary suspension of our operations in Gaza."

Since Israel began its war of extermination on October 7, 2023, several World Central Kitchen workers have been killed in several Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, causing the organization to suspend its work for some time.

The accusation with which the Israeli army justified the bombing of the “World Central Kitchen” vehicle today brings to mind similar accusations previously made by Tel Aviv against employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) as part of its ongoing efforts to disrupt relief activities in Gaza as part of a “starvation war” it is imposing on the Strip.

Based on these allegations, Israel passed a law banning UNRWA’s activities, although an independent investigation conducted by three research organizations at the request of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres concluded last April that Israel had not provided any evidence for its allegations, and confirmed the existence of a mechanism that ensures the principle of neutrality in the agency.