Gaza residents fear as aid groups halt work over Israeli strike

Naid trucks have entered northern Gaza since an Israeli strike killed seven aid workers on Monday.

Pressure is growing on the UK government to suspend arms sales to Israel, more than 600 legal experts ha ve written to the PM saying exports must end.

Meanwhile W orld Central Kitchen ( WCK) founder , José Andrés, has accused Israeli forces in Gaza of targeting his aid workers “systematically , car by car”.

Israeli economy minister Nir Barkat told the BBC it was “nonsense” to sug gest Israel would deliberately target aid workers.

Some charities ha ve paused their operations since the strike, increasing fears of starvation. Many Palestinians in Gaza will be wondering how they are going to feed their families after World Central Kitchen ( WCK) paused its operations in response to the killing of seven of its aid workers in an Israeli air strike.

Another United States charity it works with, Anera, has also suspended work because of the escalating risks faced by its local staff and their families.

Together, they were serving two million meals a week across the Palestinian territory, where the UN has warned that an estimated 1.1 million people, half the population, are facing catastrophic hunger because of Israeli restrictions on aid deliveries, the continuing hostilities and the breakdown of order.

WCK’S decision to pause its work also led to the “freezing” of a maritime aid corridor from Cyprus, which the ch arity helped set up last month to increase the trickle of aid getting into the north of Gaza and a vert a looming famine.

The Norwegian Refugee Council has warned that “what happened to WCK threatens the entire aid system” and has left it “on the brink”.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has called for an independent investigation, but stopped short of saying arms sales should end. UK militar y exports to Israel came to £ 42m in 2022 ( representing about 0.02% of Israel’s total), according to the UK government.