International community demands explanations from Israel for death of seven humanitarian workers

The European Union, Poland, the United Kingdom and Belgium today demanded explanations from Israel for the death of seven workers from the humanitarian organization World Central Kitchen (WCK) following an alleged Israeli bombing of the vehicle in which they were traveling.

O head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, condemned the attack and called for an investigation to be opened “as quickly as possible”, as he wrote on the social network X.

“Despite all the calls to protect civilians and aid workers, we continue to see innocent people being killed,” Borrell added.

The president of the European Commission expressed condolences to the workers’ families, describing the organization as a “crucial partner” in alleviating hunger.

Von der Leyen’s publication on the social network was accompanied by another publication from the European Commission, which calls for the protection of people providing humanitarian support under any circumstances, in light of international humanitarian law, and calls for “a thorough investigation into this tragedy” .

The Polish Foreign Minister also demanded that Israel give explanations for Monday’s attack on humanitarian workers – one of whom is a Polish national – which led the organization to suspend its activities in the region.

“I personally asked the Israeli ambassador, Yacov Livne, for urgent explanations. He assured me that Poland would soon receive the results of an investigation into this tragedy,” Radoslaw Sikorski also said on the X network.

The minister assured, however, that Warsaw plans to conduct its own investigation.

In turn, Polish President Andrzej Duda stated on social media that “this tragedy should never have happened and must be explained.”

The victims also included a British aid worker, as confirmed by the United Kingdom Government, expressing “concern about the attack”.

The British Ministry of Foreign Affairs only said, through a spokesperson, that it was still awaiting “more information”, but the Minister for Education, Gillian Keegan, admitted in statements to the BBC that the Government is “very, very concerned”.

Keegan recalled that the British Government urged Israel “to do more to protect civilians” and to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza and regretted that the attack had led the organization founded by Spanish chef José Andrés to suspend its operations in Gaza. Gaza Strip.

“One of the priorities is to try to get more aid to Gaza, so it’s obviously very worrying,” he said.

In addition to British and Polish citizens, the group of victims included an Australian, two with dual North American and Canadian citizenship and a Palestinian, according to WCK, which described the attack as “unforgivable”.

Australia, through its Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, also demanded explanations from the Israeli Government and argued that there must be “full accountability”.

The same position was taken by the White House, which demanded a “swift investigation” into what happened.

Although none of those attacked were Belgian nationals, Belgium also reacted to the attack, criticizing the “unacceptable murder” of seven aid workers and stressing that “even in times of war, there are rules”.

Spain was another of the countries that expressed indignation, with the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, “demanding that Israel clarify as quickly as possible” what had happened.

In a press release, after a visit to the Palestinian refugee camp of Jabal el-Hussein, in Jordan, the first stop on a regional trip through three countries, Sánchez expressed “his deepest condolences” for the deaths and classified the episode as ” a brutal attack.”

WCK explained that one of its vehicles was attacked on Monday night by the Israeli army as it passed through Deir al Bala, in the center of the Gaza Strip, after leaving a warehouse where they had unloaded 100 tons of food, in a coordinated movement. with the Israeli authorities.

This “was not just an attack against WCK, it was against humanitarian organizations that appear in the most terrible situations, in which food is used as a weapon of war”, denounced the executive director, Erin Gore.

WCK workers were in the Palestinian enclave on a humanitarian mission, in collaboration with the non-humanitarian organization Open Arms, to establish a maritime humanitarian corridor between Cyprus and Gaza and thus overcome the enormous obstacles imposed by Israel to the delivery of aid via terrestrial.