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An apparent Israeli airstrike killed seven international aid workers with the World Central Kitchen charity and their Palestinian driver late April 1, hours after the group brought in a new shipload of food to northern Gaza, which has been isolated and pushed to the brink of famine by Israel鈥檚 offensive.

Those killed include聽three British nationals, an Australian, a Polish national, an American-Canadian dual citizen, and a Palestinian, according to hospital records.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged that the country鈥檚 forces had carried out the 鈥渦nintended strike ... on innocent people.鈥� He said officials were looking into the strike and would work to ensure it did not happen again.

World Central Kitchen, the charity founded by celebrity chef Jos茅 Andr茅s, said it was aware of the reports and would 鈥渟hare more information when we have gathered all the facts.鈥�

鈥淭his is a tragedy. Humanitarian aid workers and civilians should NEVER be a target. EVER,鈥� WCK spokeswoman Linda Roth said in a statement.

Founded in 2010, World Central Kitchen delivers freshly prepared meals to people in need following natural disasters, like hurricanes or earthquakes, or to those enduring conflict. The group has also provided meals to migrants arriving at the southern U.S. border, as well as to hospital staff who worked relentlessly during the coronavirus pandemic.

The aid group sends in teams who can cook meals that appeal to the local palate on a large scale and fast.

What has the World Kitchen done during the war in Gaza?

Teams from the charity have fanned out across the region since聽Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel聽on Oct. 7 and throughout聽the war that it sparked. It has fed Israelis displaced by the attack as well as former hostages, according to its website, and people in Lebanon displaced by fighting with Israel. But its work in Gaza has been the most demanding.

In Gaza, the group says it has provided more than 43 million meals to Palestinians.

The group has set up two main kitchens, in the southern city of Rafah and the central town of Deir al-Balah. It lends support to 68 community kitchens throughout the territory, serving more than 170,000 hot meals a day. The group ramped up its work during Ramadan, the holy month when Muslims traditionally fast from sunrise to sundown and then eat a lavish meal, distributing 92,000 food boxes or about 4.7 million meals.

The group has also provided meals through airdrops and has led聽two shipments by sea聽carrying hundreds of tons of food for northern Gaza, where the food emergency is most acute.

In an interview with The Associated Press last month, Andr茅s credited the charity鈥檚 sea deliveries with prompting the U.S. to declare that it would build a floating pier for aid delivered to Gaza by sea.

Mahmoud Thabet, a Palestinian Red Crescent paramedic who was on the team that brought the bodies to the hospital, told The Associated Press the workers were in a three-car convoy that was crossing out of northern Gaza when an Israeli missile hit. Mr. Thabet said he was told by WCK staff the team had been in the north coordinating the distribution of the newly arrived aid and was heading back to Rafah in the south.

The source of fire could not be independently confirmed.

Aid delivery halted

Three aid ships from Cyprus arrived earlier on April 1 carrying some 400 tons of food and supplies organized by the charity and the United Arab Emirates 鈥� the group鈥檚 second shipment after a聽pilot run聽last month. The Israeli military was involved in coordinating both deliveries.聽Ships still laden with some 240 tons of aid that arrived just a day earlier turned back from Gaza, according to Cyprus, which has played a key role in trying to establish a sea route to bring food to the territory.聽

The United States has touted the sea route as a new way to deliver desperately needed aid to northern Gaza, where the U.N. has said much of the population is on the brink of starvation, largely cut off from the rest of the territory by Israeli forces. Israel has barred UNRWA, the main U.N. agency in Gaza, from making deliveries to the north, and other aid groups say sending truck convoys north has been too dangerous because of the military鈥檚 failure to ensure safe passage.

The UNRWA said in its latest report that 173 of its 鈥渃olleagues鈥� have been killed in Gaza in the violence. The figure does not include workers for other aid organizations.

World Central Kitchen board member Robert Egger and the media reported that the Australian killed in the April 1 strike was Zomi Frankcom from Melbourne.

Australia鈥檚 Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was urgently seeking to confirm reports of an Australian death. The department said in a statement: 鈥淲e have been clear on the need for civilian lives to be protected in this conflict.鈥�

The strike came hours after Israeli troops ended a two-week raid on Shifa Hospital, Gaza鈥檚 largest, leaving the facility largely gutted and a swath of destruction in the surrounding neighborhoods. Footage showed Shifa鈥檚 main buildings had been reduced to burned-out husks.

Israel said it launched聽the raid on Shifa聽because senior Hamas operatives had regrouped there and were planning attacks. The military said its troops killed 200 militants in the operation, though the claim that they were all militants could not be confirmed, and Palestinians coming to the site after the troops withdrew found bodies of civilians.

Raid leaves Shifa in ruins聽

The Shifa raid gutted a facility that had once been the heart of Gaza鈥檚 health care system but which doctors and staff had struggled to get even partially operating again after a previous聽Israeli assault in November.

The latest assault triggered days of heavy fighting for blocks around Shifa, with witnesses reporting airstrikes, the shelling of homes, and troops going house to house聽to force residents to leave. Israeli authorities identified six officials from Hamas鈥� military wing they said were killed inside the hospital during the raid. Israel also said it seized weapons and valuable intelligence.

After the troops withdrew, hundreds of Palestinians returned to search for lost loved ones or examine the damage.

Mohammed Mahdi, who was among those who returned to the area, described a scene of 鈥渢otal destruction.鈥� He said several buildings had been burned down and that he counted six bodies in the area, including two in the hospital courtyard.

At least 21 patients died during the raid, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted late March 31 on X, formerly Twitter.

Israel has accused Hamas of using hospitals for military purposes and has raided many hospitals across the territory. Critics accuse the army of recklessly endangering civilians and of decimating a health sector already overwhelmed with wounded.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the top military spokesman, said Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad group established their main northern headquarters inside the hospital. He described days of close-quarters fighting and blamed Hamas for the destruction, saying some fighters barricaded themselves inside hospital wards while others launched mortar rounds at the compound.

Mr. Hagari said the troops arrested some 900 suspected militants during the raid, including more than 500 Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters, and seized over $3 million in different currencies, as well as weapons. He said the army evacuated more than 200 of the estimated 300 to 350 patients. Two Israeli soldiers were killed in the raid, the military said.

This story was reported by The Associated Press. Samy Magdy reported from Cairo and Tia Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel.