Israeli allegations that an aid worker shot dead by its troops earlier this week was attempting to carry out a cross-border attack from Gaza are being examined by the international medical aid group Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
MSF confirmed that one of its Palestinian medical staff, Hani al-Majdalawi, was killed in an incident earlier this week.
Cogat, the Israeli organisation responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, said al-Majdalawi tried to infiltrate Israel from Gaza, opened fire at soldiers and threw a bomb.
Israeli troops shot and killed al-Majdalawi during the attack on Monday. The Israeli military has not said whether it is holding al-Majdalawi’s remains.
According to the statement, Cogat’s commander, Maj Gen Kamil Abu Rokon, said those who take “part in saving lives should assist in humanitarian activities in the Gaza Strip, and should not take part in terrorism”.
Alva White, a spokeswoman for MSF, confirmed al-Majdalawi had worked for the organisation and that he was killed in Gaza on Monday.
“MSF is working to verify and understand the circumstances regarding this extremely serious incident, and is not able to comment further at this stage,” the organisation said in a statement.
The fatal incident was first reported by the Israeli military in a statement on Monday without identifying the person involved.
“A terrorist shot at IDF troops in the northern Gaza Strip, in response IDF troops shot towards the terrorist,” the army said, referring to the Israel Defence Forces.
Al-Majdalawi’s brother Osama said on Facebook that his brother had bought the rifle with his own money and that he was not affiliated with any militant group, but was a newly married man with a pregnant wife.
MSF has around 200 local and foreign staff in Gaza and runs three trauma centres in the coastal enclave.
In May the NGO condemned Israel’s use of force in border protests as “unacceptable and inhuman”, describing the Israeli army’s policy as “shooting with live ammunition at demonstrators, on the assumption that anyone approaching the separation fence is a legitimate target”.
Monday’s incident came amid Egyptian efforts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist militant group that rules the Gaza Strip. The two sides have come close to serious conflict in recent weeks, as militants launched rockets and mortars into Israel, which retaliated with airstrikes.
Since March, Hamas leaders have organised violent protests each week along the Gaza border fence.
Clashes with Israeli troops on the border have seen at least 168 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire, including at least 125 protesters, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry and a local rights group. An Israeli soldier was killed by a Gaza sniper during this same period.
