CNN
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Several aid workers were killed after a bus was attacked in Gaza Wednesday night, according to a U.S. humanitarian aid organization that accused Hamas of conducting the attack.
Hamas has not yet responded to the claim.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a controversial aid initiative for aid in the US and Israel, said a bus carrying more than two dozen of its team members was attacked by Hamas around 10pm local time.
“We’re still gathering facts, but what we know is devastating. We fear at least five deaths, multiple injuries and some of our team members have been held hostage,” GHF said in a statement.
The group said they will add that details will be provided once they become known on their way to the distribution centre in the area west of Khan Yunis.
“We condemn this heinous, intentional attack in the most powerful terms possible,” GHF said in a statement.
The GHF also accused Hamas of repeatedly threatening recent organizations.
On Sunday, Hamas Media said its forces “have full authority and obligation to crucially attack the organization or individuals that work with elements of fraud, crime, or betrayal that violate the enemy’s plans or the laws and traditions of our people.”
“All agents, burglars and armed criminal gangs are seen as legal targets of resistance and their security devices,” the extremist group said.
The GHF was established amid Israel’s accusations that Hamas had stolen aid from Gaza and had quit selling it, but the organization has been controversial since its departure and has been criticized by multiple international aid agencies.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains desperate.
According to the United Nations and other aid agencies, there are restrictions imposed on aid routes, ongoing airstrikes, lack of security and the continued displacement of the ongoing displacement of tens of thousands of people. It contains supplies that are at risk of being plundered and only a small portion of what you need.
Since the GHF began operations, several Palestinians have been killed in gunfire near aid distribution site.
This is a developing story and will be updated.