Israel kills two Gaza water truck drivers – UNICEF

UNICEF has said two truck drivers it had contracted to deliver clean water to families in Gaza have been killed by Israeli fire. The agency reported it had suspended activities at the site and called on West Jerusalem to investigate the incident.

The attack occurred during routine water transport on Friday morning at the Mansoura water filling point in northern Gaza, which supplies Gaza City, the UN International Children’s Emergency Fund said in a statement later in the day. Two other people were injured in the attack, it added.

“UNICEF is outraged by the killing of two drivers of trucks contracted to provide clean water to families in the Gaza Strip,” the agency said, stressing that the water filling point attacked is the only operational site on the Mekorot water supply line, which serves hundreds of thousands of people, including children, in Gaza City.

Israeli officials have not commented on the incident.

The accusation comes amid an ongoing truce between Israel and Hamas, clinched last October to halt two years of full-scale war. The ceasefire left Israeli troops in control of a largely depopulated zone comprising well over half of Gaza, while Hamas remains in power in the remaining narrow coastal strip. Israel and Hamas have repeatedly traded blame for ceasefire violations.

More than 750 Palestinians have been killed since the deal took effect, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. West Jerusalem has, meanwhile, reported that four Israeli soldiers were killed in a Hamas attack.

Gazan authorities reported multiple killings of civilians within the span of a week. On Thursday, a local civil defense agency said Israeli fire killed four people, including one child, across different locations in the Palestinian territory. Health authorities reported that eleven 11 civilians, including a 14-year-old child, were killed earlier this week.

UN agencies and humanitarian monitors have reported continued fatalities among aid workers and volunteers in Gaza despite the truce. Earlier this month, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk called the number of journalists and humanitarian personnel killed in Gaza “unprecedented.”

Israel’s war with Hamas and the Gaza siege have faced growing international criticism, including sanction threats. Israel has also seen declining Western support amid rising deaths and a worsening humanitarian crisis in the enclave.