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Israel's military says troops fired at a vehicle driven by the Palestinian because they believed it posed "an immediate threat".
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WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the contractor – named locally as Majdi Aslan, 54 – was killed in a "security incident" and that two staff were present but not injured. He gave no further details.
Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said the contractor was driving a WHO-rented vehicle in southern Gaza when it was targeted by Israeli forces.
Israel's military said its troops "identified an unmarked vehicle approaching them and the Yellow Line, posing an immediate threat", referring to the line marking Israeli-held territory.
"In response, the troops fired warning shots. The vehicle continued to accelerate toward the troops, who then responded with additional fire that hit the vehicle," it added.
Tedros said the WHO had suspended medical evacuations of sick and wounded Palestinians from Gaza via Rafah to Egypt until further notice.
"We call for the protection of civilians and humanitarian workers," he added.
Hanan Balkhy, the WHO's regional director, described the killing of the contractor as "a devastating loss" and warned that the suspension of medical evacuations was "cutting off a critical pathway to care for patients".
At al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza, a colleague of Majdi Aslan told reporters the vehicle he was driving was clearly marked with the WHO's logo on all sides, and that it had been at the front of a co-ordinated convoy transporting patients to the Rafah crossing when it came under fire from an Israeli tank.
"The tank came out directly and targeted the driver so that he would stop. There were three people in the vehicle; the driver is the one who paid the price for the situation we are living in," Raed Aslan said. "What ceasefire is this? Every day we have someone killed."
A medic at the hospital, Dr Fathi al-Lulu, said Majdi Aslan had been target
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