WHO suspends Gaza medical evacuations after contractor killed by Israeli troops

The World Health Organization has suspended medical evacuations from Gaza to Egypt via the Rafah crossing after a contractor was killed by Israeli troops on Monday.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the contractor – named locally as Majdi Aslan, 54 – was killed in a "security incident" and that two staff were present but not injured. He gave no further details.

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said the contractor was driving a WHO-rented vehicle in southern Gaza when it was targeted by Israeli forces.

Israel's military said its troops "identified an unmarked vehicle approaching them and the Yellow Line, posing an immediate threat", referring to the line marking Israeli-held territory.

"In response, the troops fired warning shots. The vehicle continued to accelerate toward the troops, who then responded with additional fire that hit the vehicle," it added.

"The incident is under review."

Tedros said the WHO had suspended medical evacuations of sick and wounded Palestinians from Gaza via Rafah to Egypt until further notice.

"We call for the protection of civilians and humanitarian workers," he added.

Hanan Balkhy, the WHO's regional director, described the killing of the contractor as "a devastating loss" and warned that the suspension of medical evacuations was "cutting off a critical pathway to care for patients".

At al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza, a colleague of Majdi Aslan told reporters the vehicle he was driving was clearly marked with the WHO's logo on all sides, and that it had been at the front of a co-ordinated convoy transporting patients to the Rafah crossing when it came under fire from an Israeli tank.

"The tank came out directly and targeted the driver so that he would stop. There were three people in the vehicle; the driver is the one who paid the price for the situation we are living in," Raed Aslan said. "What ceasefire is this? Every day we have someone killed."

A medic at the hospital, Dr Fathi al-Lulu, said Majdi Aslan had been targeted while "co-ordinating the transfer of patients from the Gaza Strip to the Egyptian side".

The Rafah crossing was reopened for the limited movement of people in both directions in early February as part of October's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, having been largely closed since the Gazan side was captured by Israeli forces in May 2024.

Israeli authorities shut the crossing on 28 February following the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran, but it reopened again after 20 days.

Israeli military body Cogat says approximately 1,150 people have left Gaza via the crossing over the past two months and that the same number have entered Gaza.

More than 18,000 Palestinian patients are waiting to leave Gaza for treatment, according to local hospitals and the WHO.

Israel and Hamas have accused each other of repeatedly violating the ceasefire which they agreed almost six months ago.

At least 733 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began on 10 October, according to the territory's health ministry.

The Israeli military has said five of its soldiers have been killed in attacks by Palestinian groups over the same period.