Seven food aid workers killed in Israeli air strike in Gaza, says NGO
Los Angeles/Sydney (EFE) – Seven food aid workers have been killed in an alleged Israeli air strike on its convoy in Gaza, American NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK) said early Tuesday.
Late Monday, the WCK said it was “aware of reports” that members of its team had “been killed in an IDF [Israel Defense Forces] attack” and a Palestinian driver and four foreign staff had been confirmed dead by the Hamas government’s Gaza media office.
READ MORE : ‘We’re sorry:’ Israel says attack on aid workers due to mistaken identity
However, a later statement from the WCK said it was “devastated to confirm seven members of our team have been killed in an IDF strike in Gaza.”
The team had been traveling in a convoy branded with the WCK logo, it said, and despite coordinating movements with the IDF, it was hit as it was leaving a Deir al-Balah warehouse, where the team had unloaded more than 100 tons of humanitarian food aid brought to Gaza by sea.
The seven killed were from Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom, a dual citizen of the US and Canada, and Palestine, WCK said.
“I am heartbroken and appalled that we – World Central Kitchen and the world – lost beautiful lives today because of a targeted attack by the IDF,” said WCK CEO Erin Gore in a statement.
“This is not only an attack against WCK, this is an attack on humanitarian organizations showing up in the most dire of situations where food is being used as a weapon of war. This is unforgivable.”
The NGO has now paused its operations in the region.
The four are believed to be the first foreign aid workers killed in Gaza since the war began on Oct. 7, and which has already killed more than 32,800 people in the territory, most of them women and children.
At least some of the bodies were transferred to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, according to medical sources and footage posted to social media in which several were wearing black bulletproof vests and helmets, with the WCK logo on their clothing. The footage also showed medics displaying the passports of the staff.
The IDF said it was “conducting a thorough review at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of this tragic incident,” and that it has worked “closely with WCK in their vital efforts to provide food and humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.”
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese named the Australian killed as Zomi Frankcom and demanded full accountability from Israel.
“Those doing humanitarian work and civilians need to be provided with protection,” he said at a press conference.
“This news today is tragic (…) We want full accountability for this, this is a tragedy that should never have occurred.”
Albanese said the Department of Foreign Affairs had requested a call-in from the Israeli ambassador and that Canberra had contacted the Israeli government directly.
WCK founder and Spanish chef José Andrés said on X late Monday that the WCK “lost several of our sisters and brothers in an IDF air strike in Gaza.”
“I am heartbroken and grieving for their families and friends and our whole WCK family. These are people … angels … I served alongside in Ukraine, Gaza, Turkey, Morocco, Bahamas, Indonesia. They are not faceless … they are not nameless,” he wrote.
On Mar. 15, WCK participated in the delivery of 200 tons of food and water to Gaza, inaugurating a maritime corridor aboard the Open Arms ship, despite calls from the international community and other humanitarian organizations that only the mass arrival of food by land will alleviate an imminent famine in Gaza. EFE