Killing of Gaza aid workers spurs outrage
International community decries attack on convoy
The deaths of seven World Central Kitchen staffers Monday in Gaza wasn’t the first time humanitarians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war. But this attack killed foreigners, provoking a notably heated response.
Chef José Andrés said Wednesday that Israeli forces targeted a World Central Kitchen convoy in the Gaza Strip “systematically, car by car,” killing seven aid workers, including one American. The White House said it wanted to see “accountability” for the attack.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized in a video, promising an independent investigation, and Israel’s military expressed “severe sorrow.” President Joe Biden, whom the White House said was “outraged,” placed a condolence phone call to Andrés.
Humanitarian experts said the deaths were all the more striking because World Central Kitchen was known among aid groups both for its caution and its close coordination with the Israeli military in delivering aid. Israel even helped Andrés’ group build a jetty on Gaza’s Mediterranean seafront to bring food by ship into Gaza.
In the cast of globally recognized dogooders, the Spanish chef is compared with Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafai and climate change activist Greta Thunberg. He has been awarded the National Humanities Medal for the work of World Central Kitchen, which feeds victims of catastrophes across the globe in partnerships with local chefs – more than 350 million meals so far.
It was Andrés’ image as a guardian angel for survivors of war and calamity that forced the U.S. and Israeli governments to speak out, said Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International.
“José is a beloved human being,” said former National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor. “He’s well known in Washington, with a direct line to the president.”
If World Central Kitchen – run by an internationally respected celebrity chef, boasting a formidable
relationship with the Israeli Defense Forces, operating on a “deconflicted” route arranged with the military – can be attacked, observers say, then anyone in Gaza can.
Attacks on humanitarian workers
The Biden administration has decried the ever-mounting civilian and humanitarian deaths in Gaza, where the Hamas-run health ministry says a stunning 32,000 people have been killed. Israel blames Hamas for the death toll, saying that it operates and hides in civilian areas.
Monday’s tragedy follows months of prior Israeli attacks on humanitarian workers and shows how the U.S. has failed to persuade Israel to ensure the safety of civilians and aid workers, experts said. Over 200 aid workers, the vast majority of them Palestinians, have been killed in Israeli airstrikes and gunfire since the war started with Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, U.S. officials say.
Israeli forces have fired on or bombed approved aid convoys, shelters located in designated safe zones, hospitals and an American aid group’s staff residence.
The only surprise, Konyndyk said, was that Westerners weren’t killed sooner. “Humanitarians have been screaming about this for six months,” he said of the unsafe conditions for aid workers. “It was only a matter of time − and time ran out.”
None of these deaths, though, inspired anything like the Israeli and U.S. government response to the deaths of the World Central Kitchen workers.
“You’ve got humanitarian workers being killed, and they worked for an organization run by a very high-profile person,” Konyndyk said. “They finally found a victim they couldn’t blame.”
World Central Kitchen said its workers, traveling in three vehicles – two of them clearly marked with the group’s logo – were targeted as they left a warehouse in the central Gaza city of Deir alBalah after dropping off food that had recently arrived from Cyprus.
Andrés told Reuters the attack wasn’t merely a “bad luck situation where, ‘oops,’ we dropped the bomb in the wrong place.”
“Even if we were not in coordination with the IDF, no democratic country and no military can be targeting civilians and humanitarians,” he said.
“It was a series of three attacks in succession,” said Tania Hary, executive director of Gisha, an Israeli human rights organization. “It was almost as if they were being hunted while they tried to escape.”
Israel said its forces mistakenly identified the convoy as hostile.
“It’s indicative of a pattern of permissive rules of engagement and a willingness to conduct war in a way that doesn’t protect civilians or humanitarians,” Hary said.
The wait for ‘accountability’
The attack on World Central Kitchen workers comes as some recent polls show fading American support for Israel’s war in Gaza. A Gallup survey published in late March shows approval for the war falling from 50% in November to 36% in March, with 55% now disapproving.
“It makes Biden’s position even more difficult,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran Democratic political consultant. “It will create panic among Democrats who are worried about losing younger voters and African Americans who have expressly called for a cease-fire.”
It was unclear whether the deaths of the World Central Kitchen team would affect Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza or American support for its top Middle East ally. “Whether this has any real effect depends on President Biden,” Konyndyk said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Tuesday for an “impartial investigation” into the drone strikes. “We shouldn’t have a situation where people who are simply trying to help their fellow human beings are themselves at grave risk,” he said.
On Wednesday, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the administration would monitor Israel’s investigation.
“We need to see what they learn, and we need to see, just as importantly, what they do about what they learn − what changes they’re willing to make, what accountability they’re willing to observe,” Kirby told reporters. “We’re just not there yet.”