AID GROUP HALTS FOOD DELIVERY IN GAZA
Israeli strike kills 7 World Central Kitchen workers
DEIR AL-BALAH, GAZA STRIP >> Israel faced anger from some of its closest allies Tuesday after seven aid workers were killed in airstrikes in Gaza, prompting an international charity to suspend food deliveries to desperate Palestinians and raising alarm about the relief effort for the territory's mounting humanitarian crisis.
The deaths of the World Central Kitchen workers threatened to set back efforts by the U.S. and other countries to open a maritime corridor for aid from Cyprus to help ease near-starvation conditions in Gaza's north.
Ships still laden with some 240 tons of aid from the group turned back from Gaza just a day after arriving, according to Cyprus. Other humanitarian aid organizations suspended operations in Gaza after the airstrikes, saying it was no longer safe to offer help. Israel has allowed only a trickle of food and supplies into devastated northern Gaza, where experts say famine is imminent.
The dead from Monday night's strikes included three British citizens, Polish and Australia nationals, a CanadianAmerican dual national and a Palestinian. Those countries have been key backers of Israel's nearly 6-month-old offensive in Gaza, and several of them sharply condemned the killings.
Israel already faces growing isolation amid mounting international criticism of the Gaza assault. On the same day as the deadly airstrikes, Israel stirred more fears by apparently striking Iran's consulate in Damascus, killing two Iranian generals. The government moved to shut down a foreign media outlet — Qatari-owned Al Jazeera television.
The hit on the charity's convoy also highlighted what critics have called Israel's indiscriminate bombing and lack of regard for civilian casualties in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged that the military had carried out the “unintended strike ... on innocent people.” He said
officials were investigating and would work to ensure it did not happen again.
World Central Kitchen said it had coordinated with the Israeli military over the movement of its cars. Three vehicles moving at large distances apart were hit in succession. They were left incinerated and mangled, indicating multiple targeted strikes.
At least one vehicle had the charity's logo printed across its roof to make it identifiable from the air, and the ordnance punched a large hole through the roof. Footage showed the bodies at a hospital in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah, several of them wearing protective gear with the charity's logo.
Israeli TV said the initial military investigation found that the army identified the cars carrying World Central Kitchen's workers arriving at its warehouse in Deir al-Balah and observed suspected fighters nearby. Half an hour later, the vehicles were struck by the air force as they headed south. The reports said it was not clear who ordered the strikes or why.
Throughout the war, Israel has said it seeks to avoid civilian casualties and uses sophisticated intelligence to target Hamas and other fighters. Israeli authorities blame them for civilian deaths because they operate in populated areas.
At the same time, Israel has also insisted that no target is off-limits. Israeli forces have repeatedly struck ambulances and vehicles carrying aid, as well as relief organization offices and U.N. shelters, claiming that armed fighters were in them.
Israeli forces have also shown a readiness to inflict widespread destruction on suspicion of a fighter presence or out of tactical need. Homes with Palestinian families sheltering inside are leveled by strikes almost daily with no explanation of the intended target. Videos of strikes released by the military often show them hitting individuals without visible weapons, while identifying them as fighters.
More than 32,900 Palestinians have been killed in the war, around twothirds of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.
Celebrity chef José Andrés, who founded the World Central Kitchen charity, said he was “heartbroken” by the deaths of the staffers. “The Israeli government needs to stop this indiscriminate killing. It needs to stop restricting humanitarian aid, stop killing civilians and aid workers, and stop using food as a weapon,” he wrote on X.