Gaza strike kills Turkish NGO director, Israel says

The Israeli military said it killed Saqr Nabil Musa Qaisi, director of the Turkish humanitarian organisation Deniz Feneri, in a strike in the Khan Yunis area of the Gaza Strip on Sunday, October 4.

Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah had earlier announced Qaisi's death in a strike on a vehicle in southern Gaza.

The Israeli military accused Qaisi of being a member of Hamas's Nukhba elite force. It said he maintained contact with Turkish officials and Hamas leaders, and alleged that Deniz Feneri was presented as a humanitarian aid organisation while having ties to senior Hamas figures and Turkish leadership officials.

The army also alleged that Qaisi used his role at the association to employ people it described as terrorists, but it did not provide evidence for that claim.

In a separate statement, the Israeli army said it had killed a commander of Hamas's armed wing in another strike in the Khan Yunis area.

The Gaza war began after Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel, which killed 1,221 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Israel's offensive in Gaza has killed more than 74,200 people, according to the territory's health ministry, which is under Hamas authority and whose figures the United Nations considers reliable. The ministry says Israeli forces have killed more than 1,440 people since a ceasefire was announced last October. The Israeli military has identified five deaths in its ranks over the same period, along with one civilian contractor.