World Central Kitchen suspends food aid to Gaza after 7 aid workers killed by apparent Israeli airstrike

An obvious Israeli airstrike killed seven support employees with World Central Kitchen, main the charity to droop supply Tuesday of important meals support to Gaza, the place Israel’s offensive has pushed a whole bunch of hundreds of Palestinians to the brink of hunger.

The supply of the assault late Monday could not be independently confirmed. The group mentioned Israel had performed the strike. The Israeli army expressed “honest sorrow” over the deaths whereas stopping wanting accepting accountability.

The strike killed six World Central Kitchen support employees and their Palestinian driver, the group mentioned Tuesday, hours after it introduced a brand new shipload of meals into northern Gaza, which has been remoted and pushed close to famine by Israel’s offensive.

The Israel Protection Forces mentioned in an announcement that it’s doing “an in-depth investigation of the incident by probably the most senior ranks, with a view to perceive all of the circumstances of the incident. The IDF makes nice efforts to allow the secure passage of humanitarian support, and works in full cooperation and coordination with the WCK group with a view to assist their efforts to offer meals and humanitarian support to the residents of the Gaza Strip.”

Graphic images confirmed the mangled, bloodied corpses of the help employees, some nonetheless sporting World Central Kitchen t-shirts, with their passports, at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital within the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah.

The meals charity mentioned early Tuesday that the seven killed included residents of Australia, Poland and the UK, and that one was a U.S.-Canada twin citizen and one was Palestinian.

WCK, a nonprofit founded by celebrity chef José Andrés, has shipped more than 37 million meals to Palestinians in Gaza since Oct. 7, the group says.

“This isn’t solely an assault in opposition to WCK, that is an assault on humanitarian organizations displaying up in probably the most dire of conditions the place meals is getting used as a weapon of struggle. That is unforgivable,” World Central Kitchen CEO Erin Gore mentioned in an announcement

In a lengthy social media post, Andrés mentioned his group had misplaced a number of “brothers and sisters in an IDF air strike in Gaza,” and known as on the Israeli authorities to “cease killing civilians and support employees, and cease utilizing meals as a weapon.”

“I’m heartbroken and grieving for his or her households and buddies and our entire WCK household,” Andrés wrote. “These are individuals … angels … I served alongside in Ukraine, Gaza, Turkey, Morocco, Bahamas, Indonesia. They aren’t faceless … they aren’t anonymous.”

IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari mentioned in an announcement that he is spoken with Andrés and “expressed the deepest condolences of the Israel Protection Forces to the households and all the World Central Kitchen household. We additionally categorical honest sorrow to our allied nations who’ve been doing and proceed to take action a lot to help these in want.”  

The WCK group “was touring in a deconflicted zone in two armored automobiles branded with the WCK emblem,” the group mentioned in an announcement.

“Regardless of coordinating actions with the (Israeli military), the convoy was hit because it was leaving the Deir al-Balah warehouse,” in central Gaza, the group mentioned, including that the group had unloaded greater than 100 tons of humanitarian meals support dropped at Gaza on the maritime route.

Three aid ships from Cyprus arrived earlier Monday carrying some 400 tons of meals and provides organized by the charity and the United Arab Emirates, the group’s second cargo after a pilot run final month. The Israeli army was concerned in coordinating each deliveries.

The U.S. has touted the ocean route as a brand new strategy to ship desperately wanted support to northern Gaza, the place the U.N. has mentioned a lot of the inhabitants is getting ready to hunger, largely minimize off from the remainder of the territory by Israeli forces. Israel has barred UNRWA, the primary U.N. company in Gaza, from making deliveries to the north, and different support teams say sending truck convoys north has been too harmful due to the army’s failure to make sure secure passage.

The UNRWA mentioned in its newest report that 173 of its “colleagues” have been killed in Gaza within the violence. The determine doesn’t embody employees for different support organizations.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed that Zomi Frankcom, 44, of Melbourne, was amongst these killed and mentioned his authorities has requested an evidence from Israel.

“That is somebody who was volunteering abroad to offer support via this charity for people who find themselves struggling large deprivation in Gaza. And that is simply fully unacceptable,” Albanese informed reporters.

British Overseas Secretary David Cameron mentioned his nation was working to confirm studies of the deaths of U.Okay. nationals within the strike, which he mentioned was “deeply distressing.”

“It’s important that humanitarian employees are protected and in a position to perform their work,” he wrote on X, additionally calling for an investigation.

Poland’s Overseas Ministry posted “sincerest phrases of sympathy” to the household of a volunteer who had provided help to Palestinians within the Gaza Strip, with out saying how he was killed. The Overseas Ministry mentioned it’s requesting an evidence from Israel.

The mayor of Przemysl, Wojciech Bakun, named the sufferer on Fb as Damian Soból and mentioned he was from the town in southeastern Poland.

U.S. Nationwide Safety Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson mentioned on social media that, “We’re heartbroken and deeply troubled by the strike that that killed [World Central Kitchen] support employees in Gaza. Humanitarian support employees should be protected as they ship support that’s desperately wanted, and we urge Israel to swiftly examine what occurred.”

WCK said the shipments certain for Gaza have been loaded with rice, pasta, flour, legumes, canned greens and proteins, and contained sufficient meals to organize greater than 1 million meals. Additionally on board have been dates, that are historically eaten to interrupt the each day quick through the holy month of Ramadan.

The United Nations and companions have warned that famine might happen very quickly in devastated, largely remoted northern Gaza. CBS News previously reported that an estimated 1.7 million individuals in Gaza have been displaced within the territory, in response to the U.N., with many having no entry to meals, water, medication or acceptable shelter.

Tens of hundreds of individuals, principally civilians, have been killed since Oct. 7, when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 individuals and taking round 250 hostage. Israel responded with an air, land and sea offensive that has killed practically 33,000 Palestinians, in response to Gaza’s Well being Ministry. The ministry would not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its depend, nevertheless it says ladies and youngsters make up round two-thirds of these killed.

—S. Dev, Brian Dakss and Camilla Schick contributed reporting.