US-based aid group World Central Kitchen says staff from Australia, Poland, the UK and a US-Canada citizen, were killed in “targeted Israeli strike”. PM Benjamin Netanyahu admits Israeli army responsible for the strike.

The group that governs Gaza says that the attack once again proves that the “occupation insists on systematically killing civilians, international aid workers, and members of humanitarian organisations”.

In a statement on Telegram, Hamas said the objective of the attack was to “terrorise” aid workers and prevent them from continuing to carry out their humanitarian duties.

 “We call on the international community and 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.”

Rishi Sunak has joined calls by officials within the UK’s government demanding an explanation from Israel on an attack by its military that killed seven aid workers and their Palestinian driver in Deir el-Balah.

 “Israel must explain how this tragic incident happened and take immediate steps to protect aid workers and facilitate vital humanitarian operations in Gaza”, the UK’s prime minister said on X.

David Cameron, the country’s foreign minister, has also called for a probe into the attack, and earlier we reported that the UK’s minister of development summoned the Israeli ambassador in London over this incident.

Ottawa calls for a full investigation of the Israeli air strike that killed seven people, one of whom is a Canadian citizen.

 “We condemn these strikes and call for a full investigation. Canada expects full accountability for these killings, and we will convey this to the Israeli government directly. Strikes on humanitarian personnel are absolutely unacceptable,” Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said on X.

Joly’s comments are some of the harshest that Canada has directed against Israel since the start of its latest war on Gaza.

Newborn mortality is rising sharply in the Gaza Strip, with babies being born underweight, the World Health Organization has said, citing medics on the ground.

 “From different doctors, particularly in the maternity hospitals, they’re reporting that they’re seeing a big rise in children born with low birth weight, and just not surviving the neonatal period because they’re born too small,” WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said at a briefing in Geneva.

She said that at Kamal Adwan, the only paediatric hospital in northern Gaza, “at least 15 malnourished children are coming in per day, and the needs are just getting ever more severe”.

The United Kingdom’s Minister for Development and Africa Andrew Mitchell has said in a statement that he “set out the government’s unequivocal condemnation of the appalling killing of 7 World Central Kitchen aid workers, including 3 British nationals” in a meeting with Israel’s ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely.

 “I reiterated the need for Israel to put in place an effective deconfliction mechanism immediately and urgently to scale up humanitarian access,” he said.

Israel has admitted responsibility for an attack in which seven aid workers of the World Central Kitchen, along with their Palestinian driver, were killed in central Gaza in a “targeted attack” by Israeli forces that has drawn global condemnation and forced the charity to suspend operations in the region.

The country’s Foreign Ministry says in a statement that it “strongly condemns” the attack that killed aid workers in Gaza’s Deir el-Balah.

The ministry said it considers the attack a “shocking crime, in violation of international and humanitarian laws”.

Qatar “completely rejects the use of aid as a tool against civilians in Gaza, and stresses the importance of the distribution of aid to the whole Strip, without obstacles”, the statement said.

The ministry also stressed the importance of an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Here are some of the United States senators and representatives who have condemned the Israeli attack:

Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington State has called for a halt to US military aid, which she says is being “used for indiscriminate killing”.

 “The latest horror inflicted by Netanyahu’s air strikes on Gaza—killing brave souls at WCKitchen, delivering food to starving Palestinians,” she said in a post on X.

Congressman Jamaal Bowman of New York said: “Humanitarian aid workers and civilians should never be the target of military attacks.”

Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland similarly said that “aid workers from WCKitchen the UN, among others, shouldn’t face death when distributing [assistance].”

The organisation, which runs the second largest humanitarian operation in Gaza after UNRWA, has said it is suspending its work in the besieged coastal enclave following yesterday’s attack on World Central Kitchen (WCK) workers by Israeli forces.

 “The killing of WCK humanitarians, occurring less than a month after the still-unexplained killing of Anera staff member Mousa Shawwa, alongside the loss of numerous other aid workers and their families, has led our team to conclude that delivering aid safely is no longer feasible,” Anera said in a statement.

“The ongoing targeting of humanitarian workers and the lack of adequate safety measures demand thorough investigation and immediate action. Israel bears the ultimate responsibility for ensuring the unhindered delivery of urgent humanitarian assistance and basic services to those in need,” it said.