Canadian man killed providing aid in Gaza was a veteran, father

A Canadian man killed along with six other aid workers in the Gaza Strip on Monday is a military veteran from Quebec who leaves behind a partner and a oneyear-old son.

Jacob Flickinger, 33, was one of seven people in a convoy of World Central Kitchen vehicles when it was hit by an Israeli airstrike in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described as a tragic mistake.

Flickinger’s father, John, said in a Facebook post that his son’s death is a “heartbreaking tragedy” but that he died doing what he loved.

“My son, Jacob, was killed Monday delivering food aid to starving families in Gaza,” John Flickinger wrote. “He died doing what he loved and serving others through his work with the World Central Kitchen.”

Flickinger was a dual Canadian and U.S. citizen. The Canadian Armed Forces confirmed that Flickinger served in the Canadian military as an infantryman in Quebec’s Royal 22e Regiment.

A Go Fund Me page has been started to raise funds for a funeral and a trust fund for Flickinger’s son. More than $14,000 had already been raised by mid-afternoon Wednesday.

The page says Flickinger had been working for World Central Kitchen in Gaza since early March. Last fall, he travelled with the charity to Acapulco, Mexico, to provide food aid after hurricane Otis slammed into Mexico’s Pacific coast. The organization Restaurantes en Acapulco changed its main Facebook photo to feature a photo of Flickinger, clad in a World Central Kitchen T-shirt and sunglasses, walking down a street with another aid worker.

Israel has some explaining to do about how the convoy ended up as a target, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday. Netanyahu has called the targeting inadvertent — something that “happens in war.”

“The world needs very clear answers as to how this happened,” Trudeau said.