A prominent Palestinian aid worker who helped displaced families and organised public World Cup screenings across Gaza has been killed in an Israeli air strike on Gaza City.
Mohammed al-Wahidi was travelling in a taxi through the Sabra neighbourhood on Tuesday when an Israeli missile struck the vehicle.
The attack killed al-Wahidi and three other Palestinians, including two young brothers who were passing through the area.
The Israeli military confirmed carrying out the strike, claiming it had targeted an alleged Hamas operative. However, it did not identify the person it claimed was the target or provide evidence supporting the allegation.
Al-Wahidi was a senior official with the Egyptian Relief Committee in Gaza, an Egypt-backed organisation involved in delivering humanitarian assistance to Palestinians throughout Israel’s war on the besieged territory.
Before the war, he worked as an English teacher. He later became one of Gaza’s most recognisable humanitarian figures through his work supporting displaced families and communities devastated by repeated Israeli attacks.
A familiar face among displaced families
For more than two-and-a-half years, al-Wahidi helped coordinate emergency food assistance, establish camps for displaced Palestinians and deliver aid to communities facing repeated displacement.
Rather than directing humanitarian operations from an office, he was regularly present at shelters and distribution centres, meeting displaced families and responding directly to their needs.
Images and videos documenting his humanitarian work spread widely across Palestinian social media following his death, as residents mourned a man who had become closely associated with relief efforts across Gaza.
Hundreds of Palestinians attended his funeral in Gaza City, where his body was carried alongside Palestinian and Egyptian flags.
Bringing World Cup football to Gaza
Al-Wahidi had recently gained wider attention after helping organise public screenings of World Cup matches in Gaza City, Deir al-Balah and the al-Mawasi displacement area in southern Gaza.
The screenings offered Palestinian families, particularly children, a rare opportunity to gather and temporarily escape the daily realities of Israeli bombardment, displacement and destruction.
Large crowds attended Egypt’s matches, reflecting the strong cultural and political ties between Palestinians in Gaza and neighbouring Egypt.
Footage showed children and families watching matches on large screens surrounded by damaged and destroyed buildings.
Al-Wahidi was killed only hours before a planned screening of Egypt’s last-16 match against Argentina, which he had helped organise.
His killing transformed what was intended to be a brief moment of relief and celebration into another scene of mourning.
Humanitarian workers under attack
Al-Wahidi’s death comes amid continuing Israeli attacks on humanitarian workers operating across Gaza.
As of late April, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs had recorded the killing of at least 593 aid workers in Gaza since October 2023, including eight killed after the latest ceasefire came into effect.
Aid workers, medical staff, rescue teams and drivers have repeatedly been killed while distributing food, transporting supplies and responding to Israeli attacks.
The unprecedented death toll has made Gaza one of the world’s most dangerous places for humanitarian personnel.
More than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 2023, according to the territory’s health authorities, while most of the population has been displaced and much of the enclave’s civilian infrastructure destroyed.
Despite the ceasefire agreed in October 2025, Israeli strikes have continued to kill Palestinians across the territory.
Al-Wahidi’s killing has renewed attention on the absence of meaningful protection for Palestinian humanitarian workers, even as Gaza’s population remains heavily dependent on emergency food, shelter and medical assistance.
