This handout picture released by the Israeli army on 23 August 2024 reportedly shows Israeli forces during an operation to dismantle a tunnel in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. (Israeli Army / AFP) An Israeli airstrike targeted an aid convoy bound for aGaza hospital, resulting in four Palestinian deaths. The convoy was organised by the US-based aid group Anera,which refutes Israel’s claims that the individuals killed were “armedassailants.”The convoy wasdelivering food and fuel to the Emirati Red Crescent Hospital in Rafah,southern Gaza.An Israeli air strike on an aid convoy carrying food andfuel to a Gaza hospital killed four Palestinians on Thursday, US-based aidgroup Anera said as Israel claimed they were “armed assailants,”which the group denied.The four Palestinians were in the lead vehicle of an Aneraaid convoy bound for the Emirati Red Crescent Hospital in Rafah in southernGaza, the aid group said in a statement on Friday.Soon after the convoy left the Israel-controlled KeremShalom crossing into Gaza, four Palestinians from the community “tookcontrol of the leading vehicle, citing concern that the route was unsafe and atrisk of being looted,” Anera said. “Israeli authorities allege thatthe lead car was carrying numerous weapons. Every initial report from those atthe scene indicate that no weapons were present,” the organisation said.A plan agreed with Israeli authorities called for unarmedsecurity guards in the convoy. The four had not been vetted nor coordinatedwith Israeli authorities, but the convoy did not perceive them as a threat,Anera said.Anera said there was no warning or communication before theIsraeli airstrike. No Anera staff were injured. After the four were killed, therest of the convoy delivered the aid, it said.In a statement quoted by multiple media outlets, the IsraelDefense Forces said: “A number of armed assailants seized control of thevehicle in the front of the convoy… and began to lead it.””After the takeover and further verification that aprecise strike on the armed assailants’ vehicle could be carried out, a strikewas conducted,” the IDF said.The Israeli military and the Israeli embassy in Washingtoncould not immediately be reached for further comment.Aid and humanitarian organizations have been hit previouslyin Israel’s Gaza war. In April, three Israeli strikes hit a convoy of aidvehicles, killing seven World Central Kitchen staff. The United Nations WorldFood Programme said this week that one of its vehicles was hit by 10 bulletsnear an Israeli military checkpoint.FOLLOW IT LIVE | DEVELOPING: Death toll from Israeli raid in West Bank hits 20 on third day of operationThe latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinianconflict was triggered on Oct. 7 when Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attackedIsrael, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israelitallies.Israel’s subsequent assault on the Hamas-governed enclavehas since killed over 40,000 Palestinians, according to the local healthministry. Nearly the entire Gaza population of 2.3 million has been displacedand the enclave has a hunger crisis. Israel faces genocide allegations at theWorld Court that it denies.