Israel Kills WHO Contractor and at Least 12 Palestinians in Gaza as Ceasefire Erodes

Israel Kills WHO Contractor and at Least 12 Palestinians in Gaza as Ceasefire Erodes

Quick Reads

• Israeli strikes killed at least 12 Palestinians across Gaza on Monday, April 6, including at least 10 near a school sheltering displaced people in the central Gaza Strip.
• A WHO contractor, identified locally as Majdi Aslan, 54, was killed when Israeli forces opened fire on a clearly marked WHO vehicle transporting patients toward the Rafah crossing in eastern Khan Younis.
• In response to the killing, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus suspended all medical evacuations from Gaza to Egypt via the Rafah crossing until further notice.
• The Israeli military said its troops fired on an “unmarked vehicle” that continued accelerating toward them despite warning shots, and stated the incident is under review.
• Monday’s violence added to a death toll of at least 733 Palestinians killed in Gaza since the October ceasefire, a truce that both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of repeatedly violating.

Israeli strikes and military fire killed at least 12 Palestinians across Gaza on Monday, including at least 10 people near a school sheltering displaced families in the central Gaza Strip, according to Reuters. The deadliest cluster of casualties came east of the Maghazi refugee camp, where Israeli drones fired two missiles into an area where Palestinian residents had been clashing with members of an Israeli-backed militia they said had attempted to abduct people from the school.

In a separate and significant incident that drew international condemnation, Israeli forces shot and killed Majdi Aslan, 54, a contractor working for the World Health Organization, after opening fire on his vehicle in eastern Khan Younis. According to Al Jazeera’s correspondent on the ground, Aslan’s car was part of a coordinated convoy transporting patients to the Rafah crossing when Israeli soldiers opened fire along Salah al-Din Street. A colleague of Aslan told reporters at Al-Aqsa hospital that the vehicle was marked with the WHO logo on all sides. Aslan was shot in the head and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital. A WHO doctor and several other Palestinians were also wounded in the incident, according to medical sources cited by Al Jazeera.

“What ceasefire is this? Every day we have someone killed.” — Raed Aslan, colleague of the slain WHO contractor, speaking at Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus confirmed the death, describing it as a “security incident” that is under review. He announced the suspension of all medical evacuations from Gaza to Egypt via the Rafah crossing with immediate effect. Hanan Balkhy, the WHO’s regional director, called the killing devastating and warned the suspension was cutting off a critical pathway to care for patients. More than 18,000 Palestinian patients are currently waiting to leave Gaza for treatment abroad, according to BBC, citing local hospitals and the WHO.

The Israeli military offered a different account of the Khan Younis shooting. It said troops identified an unmarked vehicle approaching them near the Yellow Line, the boundary of Israeli-held territory, and that the vehicle accelerated toward soldiers even after warning shots were fired, prompting additional fire that struck it. The military said the incident is under review. The WHO, however, stated that two of its staff members were present in the vehicle but were not injured, and did not immediately confirm whether the man killed was formally classified as a WHO employee or contractor at the time of the initial statement.

Monday’s deaths come against a backdrop of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that has steadily deteriorated since it took effect in October. Gaza’s health ministry says at least 733 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire began. The Israeli military has reported five soldiers killed by Palestinian groups over the same period. Hamas has continued to resist relinquishing its weapons, a central demand in U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed peace framework, and on Sunday, the group’s armed wing said discussing disarmament before Israel fully implements the first phase of Trump’s plan was an attempt to perpetuate what it described as a genocide against the Palestinian people. Israel and Hamas have traded blame over repeated violations of the ceasefire terms.