Palestinian Humanitarian Volunteer Killed in Israeli Airstrike While En Route to World Cup Viewing

An Israeli airstrike claimed the life of a Palestinian aid worker who had been instrumental in delivering humanitarian assistance across the Gaza Strip, his family and colleagues said.

Mohammed al-Waheidi, 65, was a member of the Egyptian Committee in Gaza, a relief organization. Besides coordinating aid shipments, the group mediates family disputes and had been arranging World Cup viewing gatherings throughout Gaza in recent weeks.

The Israeli military stated that Tuesday’s strike in northern Gaza targeted a Hamas militant, without naming the individual or confirming whether he was killed. In a statement, it acknowledged reports that uninvolved civilians may have been harmed and expressed regret for any such casualties.

Israeli forces have continued to conduct frequent airstrikes in Gaza even after a U.S.-brokered cease‑fire with Hamas took effect last October. Officials say the campaign targets Hamas militants involved in the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the ongoing war.

Israel reports that roughly 1,200 people were killed in the October 7 assault and about 250 others were seized and transported to Gaza as hostages. Meanwhile, the Hamas‑controlled Gaza health ministry says that more than 73,000 Palestinians have died in the enclave since the war began.

Although the military frequently claims its strikes eliminate Hamas militants, interviews with Gaza medical staff and hospital records show that civilians have also been killed over the past nine months.

According to the Gaza health ministry, which does not separate civilians from combatants, over 1,000 people—including children—have been killed in Gaza since the October cease‑fire took hold.

His son, 22‑year‑old Fawaz al‑Waheidi, said that Mohammed was traveling by car to a friend’s home to watch the Argentina‑Egypt World Cup match on Tuesday evening when the Israeli strike hit him. It remained unclear exactly where he stood relative to the alleged Hamas militant.

In a telephone interview, Fawaz said he learned on Tuesday evening that an airstrike had killed someone sharing his surname. He desperately tried to reach his father, but a stranger picked up the line and only said that someone had been injured.

He then rushed to the hospital, where he identified a bloodied corpse as his father’s.

“I was completely stunned,” he said. “He was a good man.”

Fawaz described his father as a peace advocate who opposed violence, noting that he had previously worked in Israel and served as a teacher for the Palestinian Authority—the Western‑backed government that Hamas expelled from Gaza in 2007 and which now administers parts of the Israeli‑occupied West Bank.

Ismail Thawabteh, director general of the Hamas‑run Gaza media office, declined to comment.

Mohammed Mansour, a spokesman for the Egyptian Committee, said Mohammed al‑Waheidi oversaw the group’s liaison with local leaders, coordinating with them to facilitate safe aid delivery in Gaza—a territory ravaged by two years of war that has displaced hundreds of thousands, many now living in tents.

Fawaz said he did not want his father’s death to be exploited to fuel further violence.

“What we need is peace,” he said. “May God have mercy on my father.”

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