Seven multinational aid workers have been killed in a targeted Israeli air strike in Northern Gaza a few hours after they delivered a new shipment of food to the famine-afflicted region.
The World Central Kitchen (WCK), a renowned disaster relief nonprofit that has for over a decade now delivered food aid to disaster-stricken and war-torn parts of the world, has shipped over 37 million meals to besieged Gaza. But despite all this good work, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) still hit the aid workers leaving the Deir al-Balah warehouse.
According to the official statement of the WCK, the aid workers were leaving the deconflicted zone after coordinating an aid shipment in central Gaza when the IDF hit their three-car convoy. Graphic footage from the scene displayed the devastating aftermath of the strike, with the bodies of the aid workers, some still wearing WCK shirts.
"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. Humanitarian aid workers and civilians should NEVER be a target. EVER," WCK posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
WCK named the seven victims as:
- Saifeddin Issam Ayab Abutaha, 25, Palestinian from Rafah in southern Gaza
- Lalzawmi Frankcom, 43, of Australia
- Damian Sobol, 35, of Poland
- Jacob Flickinger, 33, dual American-Canadian citizen
- John Chapman, 57, of the United Kingdom
- James Henderson, 33, another British national
- James Kirby, 47, another British national
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Frankcom, Sobol and Flickinger were part of the relief team, while Chapman, Henderson and Kirby were part of the security team. Abutaha was hired to work as a driver for the WCK. Their bodies were identified at al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah.
"Despite coordinating movements with the [IDF], the convoy was hit as it was leaving the Deir al-Balah warehouse, where the team had unloaded more than 100 tons of humanitarian food aid brought to Gaza on the maritime route," WCK said. (Related: Israel refusing to allow HUMANITARIAN AID to reach the 2 million civilians trapped in Gaza.)
As expected, the IDF defended their actions and once again blamed Hamas, with the IDF reportedly targeting the convoy under the belief that an armed member of Hamas was among the group. However, subsequent reports from the Israeli newspaper Haaretz indicate that no such individual was traveling with the aid workers.
WCK executives condemn the Israeli airstrike
Celebrity chef Jose Andres, the founder of WCK, could not help but take his agony regarding the incident on X.
"Today @WCKitchen 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," said Andres. "These are people… angels… I served alongside in Ukraine, Gaza, Turkey, Morocco, Bahamas, Indonesia. They are not faceless … they are not nameless."
"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," he continued. "No more innocent lives lost. Peace starts with our shared humanity. It needs to start now," he posted along with the retweet of the official statement of the WCK."
Erin Gore, the CEO of WCK, stands with the agony of Andres for the loss of their aid workers.
"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," she said. "This is unforgivable. 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."
Visit IsraelCollapse.com for more stories about the ongoing conflict in Israel.
Watch this report about the humanitarian crisis in Northern Gaza.
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