“The World Central Kitchen [WCK] is devastated to confirm that seven members of our team were killed in Gaza in an attack by the Israel Defense Forces.”said the NGO, in a statement this Tuesday, clarifying that Among the victims are citizens of “Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom, a citizen with dual US and Canadian nationality and three Palestinians”.
According to the organization, the team was traveling in a humanitarian caravan made up of “two armored cars with the WCK logo and a light vehicle” at the time it was targeted.
“Despite coordinating movements with the Israeli army, the caravan was hit as it left the Deir al-Balah warehouse, where the team had unloaded more than 100 tons of humanitarian food aid transported to Gaza by sea.”the statement also reads.
The executive president of WCK also stated that the humanitarian caravan was traveling in a “conflict-free zone”.“This is not just an attack on WCK, it is an attack on humanitarian organizations that appear in the most dire situations where food is used as a weapon of war. This is inexcusable,” Erin Gore added.
On Monday night, the NGO’s spokesperson had confirmed on social media that “members of the World Central Kitchen team were killed in an attack by the Israel Defense Forces while working to support our humanitarian efforts to deliver food. food in Gaza.”
“Humanitarian workers and civilians should never be a target”highlighted Linda Roth, in the same publication.
Also the founder of the organization and chef Spanish José Andrés reacted and asked Israel to “end the indiscriminate killings” and “stop using food as a weapon”, referring to restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave.
The first data provided by the Ministry of Health of the Gaza Strip, controlled by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, indicated that four NGO employees and a Palestinian driver had been killed after helping to deliver food to the territory.
Israeli attack investigated
The Israeli army announced this Tuesday that it will open an investigation into the deaths of international workers from the humanitarian aid organization, in what it called a presumed Israeli attack in the Gaza Strip.
“Following reports of the incident involving employees of the World Central Kitchen organization in the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces began an in-depth investigation (…) to understand all the circumstances”announced through the social network X.
The Israeli army assured that it has made “great efforts” to allow access and safe passage of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, working “in full cooperation and coordination” with World Central Kitchen “to support efforts to provide food and aid humanitarian aid to the residents of the Gaza Strip”.
Images recently published on social media show that one of the WCK organization’s vehicles has damage to the roof, which suggests that it may have been hit by an air strike.
Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari said he personally spoke to Spanish cook José Andrés, founder of the humanitarian group, to express condolences over the workers’ deaths.
“We will open an inquiry to analyze this serious incident. This will help reduce the risk of a similar event” in the futurehe stated, adding that what happened is being analyzed “at the highest level”.The international community is condemning the Israeli attack on the humanitarian caravan in Gaza.
The United States admitted to being “deeply concerned” about the attack and asked Israel to quickly investigate what happened. The spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, Adrienne Watson, stressed on the social network “Aid workers must be protected as they deliver desperately needed aid.”
The Prime Minister of Australia, when confirming that one of the dead, Zomi Frankcom, was an Australian citizen, also assured that the country will “seek to investigate responsibilities” for the attack.
Anthony Albanese assured that Canberra has already contacted the Government of Tel Aviv and the Israeli ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon, directly to clarify a “completely unacceptable” event.
The British citizenship of one of the victims was also confirmed, The UK Foreign Minister considered the news of the Israeli attack on the humanitarian team “deeply distressing”, demanding Israel to investigate and explain what happened.
“There is evidence that British citizens have been killed, we are working urgently to verify this information and we guarantee full support to their families“, said David Cameron on social media.“It is essential that humanitarian workers are protected and able to carry out their work. We call on Israel to immediately investigate and provide a full and transparent explanation of what happened.”
The Commissioner General of the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) also lamented the death of seven workers from the non-governmental organization, recalling that WCK was providing “much-needed food assistance to a hungry population.”
WCK, founded by Spanish chef José Andrés, has participated in relief operations and providing meals to Gazans since the start of the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Furthermore, it is one of two NGOs actively involved in delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza by boat from Cyprus, having been involved in the construction of a temporary pier.
Aid ships that arrived on Monday carried around 400 tons of food and supplies in a shipment organized by the United Arab Emirates and World Central Kitchen. In March a ship delivered 200 tons of aid in a pilot operation and the Israeli army was involved in coordinating both deliveries.
