Israeli Strike Kills 7 World Central Kitchen Relief Workers.
Latest war crime.
Greg Mitchell is the author of more than a dozen books (see link) and now writer/director of three award-winning films aired via PBS, including “Atomic Cover-up” and “Memorial Day Massacre” which are still up at PBS.org. Before all that, he was a longtime editor of the legendary Crawdaddy. You can still subscribe to this newsletter for free.
The news trickled out via Twitter last night as unconfirmed reports. Then the famous chef/relief coordinator Jose Andreas revealed: "We are aware of reports that members of the World Central Kitchen team have been killed in an IDF attack while working to support our humanitarian food delivery efforts in Gaza. This is a tragedy….The Israeli government needs to stop this indiscriminate killing. It needs to stop restricting humanitarian aid, stop killing civilians and aid workers, and stop using food as a weapon.”
Overnight the number of death was confirmed at 7 along with photos of the death car, clearly market on its roof as an aid vehicle. Israeli PM issued his “stuff happens in war” statement: "Unfortunately, on the last day, there was a tragic incident where our forces unintentionally struck innocent people in the Gaza Strip. It happens in war, and we are thoroughly investigating it. We are in contact with the governments and will do everything to prevent such occurrences in the future."
The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that the IDF bombed the three vehicles methodically, each after it returned to rescue survivors from the previous vehicle. All cars were clearly marked and in a safe zone.
Meanwhile, though they got far less attention, at least 16 Palestinians were also killed last night in other Israeli airstrikes, per the AP. Half of them were children.
Just now the New York Times with details:
The strike killed seven aid workers from countries including the United States, Britain, Poland and Australia.
The aid group, which has become an important player in delivering aid to the territory in an effort to alleviate a humanitarian crisis, blamed Israeli forces for the deadly strike and said on Tuesday it was suspending its operations in the region.
The killings of the aid workers, who were traveling in clearly marked cars, drew condemnation from aid organizations and several governments whose citizens were among the dead.
The deadly incident shined a light on the dangers facing humanitarian workers in Gaza, who frequently traverse the territory in coordination with Israel in order to deliver food and other vital aid to Palestinians facing from severe hunger.
The World Central Kitchen, a newcomer to humanitarian work in Gaza, has taken on an important role in the distribution of aid in the enclave, bringing in the first food through a maritime route and handing out millions of hot meals at makeshift kitchens.
A spokesman for Israel’s military, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, expressed condolences for the deaths and said that Israel was reviewing the strike at the highest level to help reduce the risk that it could happen again. He did not directly acknowledge responsibility.
World Central Kitchen said in a statement that the team was leaving a warehouse in central Gaza in two armored cars after unloading humanitarian food aid. The group said the convoy was hit despite having coordinated its movements with the Israeli military.
Erin Gore, the nonprofit’s chief executive officer, said that the group’s employees were killed in “a targeted attack” by the Israeli military, without providing evidence.
“This is unforgivable,” Ms. Gore said.
Graphic video footage that circulated after the strike showed several bodies, some wearing protective gear with World Central Kitchen patches. Footage distributed by Reuters showed a white vehicle marked with the group’s logo on its roof, with a hole half of the width of the car. The nationalities of the seven killed included Australia, Poland, Britain, the United States, Canada and Palestine, according to World Central Kitchen.
World Central Kitchen has become a key organization in the perilous, politically fraught efforts to distribute humanitarian aid to desperate Gazans. Aid organizations say Israel has severely limited the aid that reaches Gaza through land crossings, leaving shipments by sea as an increasingly important means of delivering food to the enclave.
The organization shipped food to Gaza from Cyprus last month, docking at a makeshift jetty in northern Gaza. A second and larger convoy set sail from Cyprus on Saturday. By Tuesday, it remained off the coast of Gaza according to MarineTraffic, a website that tracks global shipping. It was unclear whether the convoy would now dock.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia identified one of the victims as Zomi Frankcom, an Australian citizen and a manager at World Central Kitchen. “We want full accountability for this, because this is a tragedy that should never have occurred,” he told reporters.
“The truth is that this is beyond any reasonable circumstances,” he said, adding that his government had summoned the Israeli ambassador to Australia.
NBC:
The United Nations aid coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory warned today that the deadly strike that killed seven aid workers in Gaza is part of a troubling trend that has seen a record number of humanitarian workers killed since the Hamas-Israel war broke out.
"This is not an isolated incident," Jamie McGoldrick said in a statement. "As of March 20, at least 196 humanitarians had been killed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory since Oct. 2023. This is nearly three times the death toll recorded in any single conflict in a year."