He was shot with his hands raised, wearing an orange safety vest
In the shadow of a broken-down food convoy on the Philadelphi corridor, Ahmad Esleem — a thirty-year-old father of two, including a one-month-old child — was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier while standing with his hands raised. He was a licensed aid driver, fully coordinated through international humanitarian channels, wearing a safety vest and carrying IDF-approved permits. His death joins a pattern of violence against civilian supply workers in Gaza, and now threatens to sever the fragile human chain that carries food to a besieged population.
- A coordinated WCK food convoy halted for a breakdown became the scene of what witnesses describe as a point-blank execution of a compliant, unarmed driver.
- The IDF and eyewitnesses offer irreconcilable accounts — one describing a threat-response protocol, the other describing a man shot mid-surrender while soldiers and driver could not share a language.
- Ahmad Esleem's death is not isolated: at least four other Palestinian aid drivers have been killed in similar circumstances since April 2024, forming a pattern that humanitarian organizations can no longer absorb quietly.
- Five drivers from Esleem's company resigned immediately; those who remain do so not from courage but from hunger — their own families dependent on wages earned in lethal conditions.
- The Transport Companies' Association is now weighing a suspension of operations at Kerem Shalom, the sole functioning aid crossing into Gaza, which would cut the last reliable artery of food into the territory.
- Drivers report systematic abuse beyond the threat of death — beatings, forced sun exposure, threats of execution, and soldier pressure to smuggle contraband — turning humanitarian work into a gauntlet of coercion.
Ahmad Esleem was thirty years old, with a wife, a young daughter, and a baby just one month old. On Wednesday, he was part of a fully coordinated World Central Kitchen food convoy moving through the Philadelphi corridor in southern Gaza when one truck broke down and the convoy stopped. He was wearing an orange safety vest and carried all required permits and IDF-approved clearances. He did not make it home.
According to three witness accounts, Israeli soldiers arrived at the stopped convoy and ordered drivers to dismount. When Esleem stepped out with his hands raised, a soldier shot him in the head at close range. Fellow driver Diaa Mansour described being forced to strip and sit in the sun while soldiers brought Esleem forward. A soldier spoke to him in Hebrew; Esleem responded in Arabic. Neither understood the other. Then the shot came.
Jihad Esleem, a distant relative and deputy head of Gaza's Transport Companies' Association, called it a field execution. The IDF disputed this, saying a driver from a nearby truck ran toward soldiers, triggering a suspect apprehension protocol. The accounts cannot be reconciled. The IDF said the incident was under review.
The owner of Esleem's company said five drivers resigned on the spot after the killing. Those who stayed did so only because they had families to feed — families they leave at 3am, not knowing if they will return. Drivers also reported beatings, forced sun exposure, threats, and pressure from soldiers to smuggle contraband. On the day Ahmad died, traders attempted to hide cigarettes inside hollowed-out pineapples.
This killing follows a documented pattern. Two drivers were shot in May near Rafah after detention and release. Two Unicef drivers were killed in northern Gaza while filling water trucks. In April 2024, an Israeli airstrike killed seven World Central Kitchen workers on a coordinated convoy.
The Transport Companies' Association announced an emergency meeting to consider suspending operations at Kerem Shalom — the only functioning aid crossing into Gaza. Jihad Esleem framed the stakes plainly: Palestinian truck drivers are the vital link between the Israeli side and Gaza's population. If they stop, the food stops.
Ahmad Esleem was thirty years old, married, with a one-month-old baby and a young daughter. On Wednesday, he was driving a truck carrying food aid from the World Central Kitchen into Gaza when the convoy stopped because one vehicle had broken down. He never made it home.
Esleem was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier on the Philadelphi corridor, a military road on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip. According to three separate accounts from witnesses and his employer, the sequence was straightforward: Israeli soldiers arrived at the stopped convoy, ordered the drivers to dismount, and when Esleem stood with his hands raised, a soldier shot him at close range. Diaa Mansour, another driver in the four-truck convoy, described what happened next: the soldiers forced the men to stand by the roadside, ordered Mansour to remove his clothes and sit in the sun, then brought Esleem out. "One of the soldiers began talking to Ahmad while he stood with his hands raised," Mansour said. "Ahmad did not speak Hebrew, and it seemed the soldiers did not understand his Arabic. Suddenly, they shot him."
Jihad Esleem, deputy head of the Association of Transport Companies in Gaza and a distant relative of the victim, called it a field execution. The convoy had been fully coordinated through the UN World Food Programme and the World Central Kitchen, he said. Esleem was wearing an orange safety vest and carried all required permits and security clearances approved by the Israeli Defense Forces. "The moment Ahmad raised his hands in surrender, one of the soldiers drew his M16 rifle and shot him directly in the head," Jihad Esleem said. "It was a deliberate killing of a civilian driver who had complied with all instructions."
The IDF offered a different account. A military spokesperson said troops identified three aid truck drivers who had exited their trucks "contrary to established procedures." The soldiers detained them for questioning. Simultaneously, the spokesperson said, the driver of another truck that had stopped at a nearby roadblock ran toward the troops. The soldiers initiated what they called a suspect apprehension protocol and, after perceiving an immediate threat, opened fire. The driver was injured and later transferred for medical treatment, the IDF said, adding that the incident was under review.
Eyad Esleem, the owner of the transport company that employed Ahmad, described the aftermath in terms of immediate human consequence. Five drivers from his company resigned on the spot, he said. Those who remained were not staying because they wanted to, but because they had families to feed. "Drivers leave their homes at 3am, leaving behind their wives and children, and one of them may return to his family as a lifeless body," he said.
This was not an isolated incident. In May, two other Palestinian drivers, Muhammad al-Heela and Mahmoud Awad, were allegedly shot in similar circumstances after being detained and then released near a roundabout in Rafah. The previous month, Israeli soldiers shot dead two drivers working for Unicef as they filled water trucks at an established distribution point in northern Gaza. In April 2024, an Israeli airstrike killed seven World Central Kitchen employees on a convoy in southern Gaza.
The killing of Ahmad Esleem has triggered a crisis in the humanitarian supply chain. The Transport Companies' Association, which supplies drivers for UN agencies and aid organizations, announced it would hold an emergency board meeting to discuss suspending operations at the Kerem Shalom crossing, the only functioning aid entry point into Gaza. Jihad Esleem emphasized the stakes: "It is important that everyone understand that the Palestinian truck driver is the vital link and the first point of contact between the Israeli side and Gaza. They should not be prevented from carrying out this role."
Beyond the immediate threat of violence, Esleem said drivers faced systematic abuse: beatings, humiliation, forced exposure to the sun for hours. After Ahmad was shot, the soldier who killed him spoke to the three surviving drivers and threatened them, Esleem said, telling them they would meet the same fate. The association's drivers were also being pressured by soldiers and traders to smuggle contraband, mostly cigarettes, adding another layer of danger and moral compromise to work that was already lethal. On the day Ahmad died, traders attempted to smuggle cigarettes hidden inside hollowed-out pineapples.
Citas Notables
The moment Ahmad raised his hands in surrender, one of the soldiers drew his M16 rifle and shot him directly in the head. It was a field execution and a deliberate killing of a civilian driver who had complied with all instructions.— Jihad Esleem, deputy head of the Association of Transport Companies in Gaza
Drivers leave their homes at 3am, leaving behind their wives and children, and one of them may return to his family as a lifeless body.— Eyad Esleem, owner of Iyad Qamri Trading and Public Transport Company
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does this incident matter beyond the immediate tragedy? What changes because Ahmad Esleem was killed?
Because it threatens to collapse the entire system of getting food into Gaza. These drivers are the only bridge between the outside world and two million people. If they stop showing up, the aid stops moving.
But the IDF says the driver posed a threat. They say he ran toward troops. How do we know what actually happened?
We have three independent accounts from people in that convoy—the other drivers, the company owner, the truckers' association. They all describe the same sequence: a breakdown, soldiers arriving, orders to dismount, a man with his hands up, a shot. The IDF's account doesn't match any of those versions.
What does it mean that this convoy was fully coordinated? Doesn't that suggest the soldiers should have known who these people were?
It means Ahmad had done everything right. He had permits, clearances, an orange safety vest. He was exactly where he was supposed to be, doing exactly what he was supposed to do. And he was still shot.
The IDF says they perceived an immediate threat. Is that enough to justify opening fire?
That's the question everyone is asking. But if a man with his hands raised, wearing a safety vest, carrying approved permits, counts as an immediate threat, then no driver will ever feel safe again. And they won't come back.
What happens if the truckers' association actually suspends operations?
Two million people in Gaza depend on that aid. Food, medicine, water. If the drivers stop, the humanitarian system collapses. That's not hyperbole. That's the consequence.
Is there any indication the IDF will change how it operates at these checkpoints?
The incident is under review, they said. But this is the fourth or fifth killing of aid workers in similar circumstances in recent months. At some point, a pattern becomes policy.