U.S. food-aid group says 7 workers killed in Gaza strike
Seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen were killed in an airstrike by the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip on Monday, according to a post from the disaster relief group founded by the celebrity chef José Andrés on X.
The U.S.-based group has helped oversee the construction of a pier and the delivery of aid through it to northern Gaza, where humanitarian agencies say hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are living in dire conditions, including malnutrition.
“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. This is unforgivable,” said World Central Kitchen CEO Erin Gore, adding that the organization was pausing its operations in the region.
The seven killed are from “Australia, Poland, United Kingdom, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada, and Palestine,” WCK said in a statement.
“Unfortunately, in the past day there was a tragic case of our forces unintentionally hitting innocent people in the Gaza Strip,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, without specifying further. He added that Israel “will do everything so that this does not happen again.”
The war in Gaza started shortly after the militant group Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and abducting some 250 others. Israel started a military campaign against the group, which is designated a terrorist group by the U.S. and E.U., in a conflict that has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians, according to authorities in the Hamasrun enclave.
President Joe Biden spoke with Andrés on Tuesday and called for culpability for the workers’ deaths, according to the White House. The U.S. was “outraged” by the strike and expects an Israeli investigation to be conducted in “a swift and comprehensive manner,” White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
“We hope that those findings will be made public and that there is appropriate accountability held,” Kirby said.
The Israeli military is reviewing the incident to understand what happened, spokesman Daniel Hagari said. He added he had spoken with Andrés and expressed deepest condolences.
“We will be opening a probe to examine this serious incident further,” Hagari said. “This will help us reduce the risk of such an event occurring again.”
Last month, the charity delivered the first shipment of aid via a sea route. Two more ships left Cyprus and arrived in Gaza.
WCK staffers, along with thousands of volunteers and contractors, responded to disasters in nearly 20 countries last year – feeding war victims in Ukraine, delivering meal kits to earthquake survivors in Syria and Turkey and partnering with local aid groups in Gaza, Israel and surrounding countries to feed war victims and the families of hostages.
WCK said on its website that its teams have set up a field kitchen in Rafah, southern Gaza, and created a network of community kitchens across Gaza.
“I am heartbroken and grieving for their families and friends and our whole WCK family,” Andrés said on X.