DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) An Israeli airstrike killed seven aid workers with World Central Kitchen, leading the charity to suspend delivery Tuesday of vital food aid to Gaza, where Israels offensive has pushed hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to the brink of starvation .

Cyprus, which has played a key role in trying to establish a sea route to bring food to territory, said ships that recently arrived were turning back with some 240 tons of undelivered aid.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged that the countrys forces had carried out the unintended strike on innocent people in the Gaza Strip. He says officials are checking this thoroughly and will do everything for this not to happen again.

Footage showed the bodies, several wearing protective gear with the charitys logo, at a hospital in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah. Those killed include three British nationals, an Australian, a Polish national, an American-Canadian dual citizen and a Palestinian, according to hospital records.

World Central Kitchen, a food charity founded by celebrity chef Jos Andrs, was key to the recently opened sea route, which offered some hope for northern Gaza where the U.N. says much of the population is on the brink of starvation, largely cut off from the rest of the territory by Israeli forces.

Andrs whose charity operates in several countries wracked by wars or natural disasters, including Israel after the Oct. 7 attack that triggered the current conflict said he was heartbroken by the deaths of his colleagues.