IDF says it killed Oct. 7 terrorist employed by aid group; 4 others said killed as well
Ahed Qadih, who worked for World Central Kitchen, participated in Nir Oz massacre; army doesn’t comment on two other aid workers said to be among the dead
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The Israel Defense Forces said on Saturday it had killed a terrorist in Gaza who participated in the October 7 onslaught and who was employed by the World Central Kitchen aid organization.
Palestinian media reported that the drone strike in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis killed five people, including three local aid workers with WCK.
The army did not remark on the other people allegedly killed, but noted that the targeted vehicle was unmarked and its movement was not coordinated for transporting aid.
According to the IDF, the terrorist, Ahed Qadih, participated in the massacre in Kibbutz Nir Oz, which saw 46 people killed and 71 taken hostage.
“The terrorist was under intelligence surveillance for a long period, and was struck following reliable information about his location in real-time,” the IDF said, adding that “according to current information, it is not possible to link the terrorist to a specific abduction attempt” from the October 7 massacre.
After the incident, WCK announced it would be pausing operations in Gaza.
A statement put out by the organization said WCK “had no knowledge that any individual in the vehicle had alleged ties to the October 7 Hamas attack” and did not confirm any deaths.
Following the strike, representatives of the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) “demanded of senior officials from the international community and the WCK administration to clarify the issue and order an urgent examination regarding the hiring of workers who took part in the October 7 massacre and terrorist attacks against the State of Israel.”
صور من مكان استهداف الاحتلال لمركبة تابعة للمطبخ العالمي المركزي على طريق صلاح الدين، حيث ارتقى 5 شهداء وعدد من الجرحى pic.twitter.com/iAo396q1lr
— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) November 30, 2024
“COGAT is again calling on the international organizations that operate in the Gaza Strip to provide Israeli authorities with details of local employees that are hired by them in the Gaza Strip, to ensure that terrorists are not making use of the humanitarian arena,” the IDF added.
In April, seven WCK aid workers, six of whom were foreigners, were killed in an Israeli strike that led Israel to apologize and fire two officers involved in the incident, saying the strike on the vehicle had been a grave error.
While Qadih marks the first known incident of a terrorist working for WCK, Israel has charged that at least 10 percent of workers for UNRWA, the largest aid organization in Gaza, have ties to terror groups. The organization denies this charge but has confirmed about a dozen cases where it found its employees belonged to Hamas.
Meanwhile in southern Gaza’s Rafah, an IDF drone strike killed a member of a Hamas cell that had set up booby traps, a video published on Saturday by the military showed.
The military said the cell had rigged barrels packed with explosives and other explosive devices in the area. The members of the cell were all eliminated, according to the IDF.
The drone strike was directed by troops of the Nahal Brigade, which has been operating in Rafah under the Gaza Division in recent months.
Amid their operations, the IDF said the troops found weapons and military equipment during searches near a hospital and mosque in Rafah.
Also Saturday, a siren sounded in the Gaza border town of Kissufim, but the military later said the siren was a false alarm.
Reopening Rafah, medication for hostages
As mediators relaunch efforts to reach a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza in the wake of the Lebanon truce, a Hamas delegation was in Cairo for talks Saturday, and an Egyptian team was reported to visit Israel in recent days, though there was no official confirmation for the latter trip.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the talks included negotiations on reopening the Rafah Border Crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which Egypt shuttered once Israel took control of the border region. Arab negotiators told the Journal that an agreement could lead to the crossing’s reopening by early December.
The report added that under the proposed deal, administrative control of the terminal would be given to the Palestinian Authority, and Israel would be given access to information on those crossing.
The Hezbollah-aligned Al-Akhbar outlet reported Saturday that Israeli and Egyptian officials have also discussed the possibility of the transfer of medications to hostages held in Gaza.
Unnamed sources told the outlet that topics discussed during the Egyptian delegation’s visit to Tel Aviv included “the possibility of bringing in medicine for Israeli prisoners [sic], similar to a previous agreement.”
There was no other confirmation of the report.
The Cairo officials are thought to have presented Israel with a “comprehensive vision” for Gaza. The Al-Akhbar report said talks were also held on the transfer of medications into the Strip for wounded Palestinians.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has not been able to visit any of the hostages held by terrorists in Gaza, despite urgent appeals from their loved ones and diplomatic officials for them to do so.
War broke out during the Hamas October 7 onslaught, which saw terrorists invade southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251.
It is believed that 101 hostages remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.
