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. 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.