Israeli strike on relief convoy kills 4 in Gaza: US aid group

A US charity organisation, American Near East Refugee Aid (Anera), announced Friday that four people accompanying one of its convoys in the southern Gaza Strip were killed in an Israeli air raid Thursday.

Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesman for the United Nations, said in statements that the truck that was fired upon was part of a humanitarian aid convoy in the Strip, which was fully coordinated with the occupation.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) announced this month that 2023 was the bloodiest year ever for the global humanitarian community, with 280 relief workers killed in 33 countries, an increase of 137 percent compared to 2022.

It noted that relief workers on the front lines of conflicts in the world were being killed in unprecedented numbers.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced last Wednesday, the temporary suspension of its activities throughout the Gaza Strip, after one of its vehicles was hit by Israeli bullets while approaching an Israeli military checkpoint.