Al-Qalam 
Mohamed al-Wahidi, an official with Egypt’s relief arm in Gaza, turned what was supposed to be a moment of celebration — the live screening Tuesday of a potential upset against Argentina by an Arab team — into a reminder of how the near-daily Israeli strikes are continuing to kill civilians despite a truce reached in October.
In the months since the ceasefire, Israeli attacks have killed 1,084 people, including nine killed by strikes and gunfire across Gaza on Wednesday, according to local health officials. Among the dead were two children, as well as a truck driver who was gunned down at a roadblock along the Philadelphi Corridor, an Israeli-controlled strip of land that runs along Gaza’s border with Egypt.
The Israeli military said it shot the truck driver after he “ran towards the troops.” Another man was killed on the street by a drone in Gaza City.
The strike that killed Wahidi on Tuesday hit a car in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City at dusk, according to Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya, the director of Shifa Hospital. He said three others were killed in the attack, including the driver, Ahmed Daghmush, 33, and two brothers, 10-year-old Hamza al-Deri and 8-year-old Fari.
The Israeli military said Wahidi, who helped organize the soccer screenings in Gaza on Tuesday, was not a target of the strike. It said the attack was aimed at a Hamas militant and that it was checking whether Daghmush was the target. Abu Selmiya said he was a taxi driver without any known links to militant groups.
The committee for which Wahidi worked is the relief arm of the Egyptian government, which provides food, shelter and other assistance to Palestinians in Gaza.
Many in the Palestinian diaspora live across the border in Egypt, which was a key mediator of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire.Team Egypt’s Gaza fan base has only grown since the start of the tournament, with coach Hossam Hassan spotlighting the plight of the Palestinian people in press briefings and on the pitch. He dedicated his team’s victory over Australia on Friday to both Egyptians and Palestinians and waved a Palestinian flag.
AP NEWS.
