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05-04-2024
GAZA CITY: World Central Kitchen (WCK) founder Jose Andres has accused Israeli forces in Gaza of targeting his aid workers “systematically, car by car”.
Monday’s strike which killed seven members of his staff was not a mistake, he said, repeating that Israeli forces had been told of their movements.
WCK workers from Australia, Canada, Poland, the UK and the US were killed as well as their Palestinian colleague.
Israel says the strike was a “grave mistake” and has apologized.
It has also promised an independent investigation.
According to the charity, the aid convoy was hit while 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”.
The convoy was made up of three vehicles, including two that were armored, which clearly displayed the charity’s logo. All three were hit during the strike.
Speaking to media on Wednesday, the Spanish-American celebrity chef said this was not a “bad luck situation where, ‘oops,’ we dropped the bomb in the wrong place”.
In a separate interview with Israel’s Channel 12 news, Andres said “it was really a direct attack on clearly marked vehicles whose movements were known by everybody at the IDF (Israel Defense Forces)”.
The bodies of six of the dead WCK workers have since been taken from Gaza into Egypt to be repatriated.
Their Palestinian colleague was buried in his hometown in Rafah, southern Gaza, on Tuesday.
Humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip is in doubt after WCK, a key provider of aid to the territory, suspended operations.
The UN announced it was pausing movements at night for at least 48 hours to evaluate the security situation.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described the strike as unintentional.
“It happens in war, we check it to the end, we are in contact with the governments, and we will do everything so that this thing does not happen again,” Netanyahu said on Tuesday.
IDF Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi called the incident a “grave mistake” and said “it shouldn’t have happened,” blaming the strike on misidentification.
US President Joe Biden has condemned the strike, accusing Israel of not doing enough to protect aid workers.
“The United States has repeatedly urged Israel to de-conflict their military operations against Hamas with humanitarian operations, in order to avoid civilian casualties,” Biden said.
Three of the killed aid workers were British nationals. A Polish national, an Australian, a Palestinian and a dual US-Canadian citizen were also killed.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke to Netanyahu on Tuesday. On the call, he described the situation in Gaza as “increasingly intolerable” and “demanded a thorough and transparent independent investigation” into the killing of the aid workers.
Sunak added that Israel needed to end restrictions on humanitarian aid and protect civilians, according to a Downing Street statement. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
