The army said in a statement that the worker was a "terrorist" who "infiltrated Israel and took part in the murderous October 7 massacre in Kibbutz Nir Oz" and "worked for the WCK organisation".

Representatives from the Israeli military unit responsible for overseeing humanitarian needs in Gaza "demanded senior officials from the international community and the WCK administration to clarify the issue and order an urgent examination regarding the hiring of workers who took part in the October 7 massacre", the statement said.

The charity has yet to comment on the Gaza civil defence agency's earlier statement that three Palestinian WCK workers were killed in the strike, or the allegations from the army.

Earlier Saturday, civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP the bodies of "at least five dead were transported (to hospital), including the three employees of World Central Kitchen".

"All three men worked for WCK and they were hit while driving in a WCK jeep in Khan Yunis," Bassal said, adding that the vehicle had been "marked with its logo clearly visible".

The Israeli army, in an earlier statement, had insisted its strike in the main southern city hit "a civilian unmarked vehicle and its movement on the route was not coordinated for transporting of aid".

In April, an Israeli air strike killed seven WCK staff -- an Australian, three Britons, a North American, a Palestinian and a Pole.

Israel said it had been targeting a "Hamas gunman" in that strike, but the military admitted a series of "grave mistakes" and violations of its own rules of engagement.

Palestinian militants' October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,207 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed 44,382 people in Gaza, according to figures from the territory's health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.