Foreign nationals were among seven aid workers killed in an Israeli military strike as they were delivering food to starving civilians in Gaza,\u00a0according to non-profit group World Central Kitchen and authorities in the besieged enclave. <\/p>\n
World Central Kitchen said its aid workers were traveling in a \u201cdeconflicted zone\u201d in two armored cars branded with the charity\u2019s logo as well as \u201ca soft skin vehicle.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cDespite coordinating movements with the IDF, the convoy was hit as it was leaving the Deir al-Balah warehouse, where the team had unloaded more than 100 tons of humanitarian food aid brought to Gaza on the maritime route,\u201d the group said in a statement. <\/p>\n
Those killed include a dual US-Canada national, as well as people from Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom, and a Palestinian, the group said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI am heartbroken and appalled that we \u2013 World Central Kitchen and the world \u2013 lost beautiful lives today because of a targeted attack by the IDF,\u201d World Central Kitchen CEO Erin Gore said in the statement. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe love they had for feeding people, the determination they embodied to show that humanity rises above all, and the impact they made in countless lives will forever be remembered and cherished,\u201d Gore added. <\/p>\n
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it is \u201cconducting a thorough review at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of this tragic incident.\u201d <\/p>\n
IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Tuesday that he had spoken to World Central Kitchen founder Jose Andres to express \u201cthe deepest condolences of the Israel Defense Forces to the families and the entire World Central Kitchen family.\u201d <\/p>\n
World Central Kitchen said it was pausing its operations following the deadly strike and assessing the future of its operations in Gaza. <\/p>\n
The Washington headquartered charity provides meals to disaster-struck regions and communities around the world. It is one of the few aid organizations delivering desperately needed food in Gaza where 2.2 million people do not have enough to eat, and where aid agencies warn half of the population is on the brink of starvation and famine due to Israel\u2019s\u00a0throttling of aid\u00a0and widespread destruction. <\/p>\n
\u201cToday @WCKitchen lost several of our sisters and brothers in an IDF air strike in Gaza,\u201d Andres, the charity\u2019s founder, wrote on X. \u201cI am heartbroken and grieving for their families and friends and our whole WCK family.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese are people\u2026angels\u2026I served alongside in Ukraine, Gaza, Turkey, Morocco, Bahamas, Indonesia. They are not faceless\u2026they are not nameless.\u201d <\/p>\n
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese identified the Australian victim as Lalzawmi \u201cZomi\u201d Frankcom. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is someone who volunteered in Australia to help people during the bushfires. This is someone who was volunteering overseas to provide aid through this charity for people who are suffering tremendous deprivation in Gaza,\u201d Albanese said. <\/p>\n
\u201cAustralia expects full accountability for the deaths of aid workers, which is completely unacceptable.\u201d <\/p>\n
He said the Australian government has already contacted the Israeli government directly, and that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade had requested a \u201ccall-in\u201d from the Israeli ambassador to Australia. <\/p>\n
\ufeffPolish authorities confirmed that one of its nationals, Damian Sobol from the town of Przemysl, was killed as well. <\/p>\n
Radoslaw Sikorski, Poland\u2019s foreign minister, said he personally asked Israel\u2019s envoy to the country to deliver an \u201curgent\u201d explanation. Sikorski said he was assured \u201cthat Poland would soon receive the results of the investigation into this tragedy.\u201d <\/p>\n
Saif Issam Abu-Taha, a Palestinian driver and translator working with World Central Kitchen, was named as one of the victims by Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Gaza. <\/p>\n
Hamas condemned the attack in a statement on Tuesday, urging the international community and the United Nations to \u201ctake action.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThis crime once again confirms that the occupation continues its policy of deliberate killing of innocent civilians, international relief teams, and humanitarian organizations, in its efforts to terrorize those working in them and prevent them from carrying out their humanitarian duties,\u201d it said in the statement. <\/p>\n
US National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said on X that the White House was \u201cheartbroken and deeply troubled\u201d by the killings. Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for China\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Beijing was \u201cshocked\u201d by the attack. <\/p>\n
Other charities were quick to mourn the losses and praise World Central Kitchen\u2019s commitment to helping those in need in the face of danger. <\/p>\n
Matthew Hollingworth, the World Food Programme\u2019s Palestine director praised the \u201clife-saving work\u201d of those killed, while Norwegian Refugee Council Secretary General Jan Egeland called for an immediate ceasefire. <\/p>\n
\u201cNowhere else are so many aid workers killed,\u201d Egeland said. <\/p>\n
World Central Kitchen was \u201can NGO that that the IDF worked\u00a0very closely with, because part\u00a0of what World Central Kitchen\u00a0did was to bring food to Gaza\u00a0through the sea,\u201d Ravid said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe IDF wanted to show that\u00a0by working with this\u00a0organization, it is\u00a0addressing the food shortages in Gaza,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd now a few\u00a0days later, the IDF allegedly\u00a0hits \u2026 aid workers from this\u00a0organization.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ravid pointed out that this isn\u2019t the first time aid workers have allegedly come under fire by Israeli forces. The vast majority of aid workers who have been killed have been Palestinians and their families. <\/p>\n
Since the latest war began following Hamas\u2019 October 7 murder and kidnap rampage through southern Israel, at least 165 workers with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) have been killed, the agency said last month. <\/p>\n
The World Central Kitchen has made headlines in recent years for coordinating food relief for thousands of people after an earthquake devastated Haiti, Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico, wildfires scorched Southern California, and a refugee crisis intensified on the Venezuelan border. <\/p>\n
In March, the non-profit led an initiative to ship 200 tons of food aid to Gaza \u2013 which it said was the first maritime shipment of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave. <\/p>\n
The shipment included enough ingredients for 500,000 meals that World Central Kitchen planned to distribute in the strip, where\u00a0hundreds of thousands\u00a0people are on the brink of famine. <\/p>\n
This is a developing story and has been updated.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n Foreign nationals were among seven aid workers killed in an Israeli military strike as they were delivering food to starving civilians in Gaza,\u00a0according to non-profit group World Central Kitchen and authorities in the besieged enclave. World Central Kitchen said its aid workers were traveling in a \u201cdeconflicted zone\u201d in two armored cars branded with the <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":17512,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17511","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}