April 1 2024 GAZA – Seven aid workers were killed when their convoy was hit in airstrike overnight, according to Bellingcat investigation.
As it was leaving their Deir al-Balah warehouse to deliver aid supplies inside Gaza, the Co convoy was hit killing seven foreign World Central Kitchen Workers and their Palestinian driver, they were brought to Al Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah, Gaza.
World Kitchen workers were citizens of the UK, Australia and Poland, according to photos from the scene.
The food charity World Central Kitchen WCK said they had coordinated the convoy’s movements with the IDF.
IDF: Announcement by the IDF Spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, following the World Central Kitchen incident:
“Last night, an incident took place in Gaza that resulted in the tragic death of World Central Kitchen employees as they fulfilled their vital mission of bringing food to people in need.
As a professional military committed to international law, we are committed to examining our operations thoroughly and transparently.”
“I just spoke to WCK Founder, Chef Jose Anders, and expressed the deepest condolences of the Israel Defense Forces to the families and the entire World Central Kitchen family.
We also express sincere sorrow to our allied nations who have been doing and continue to do so much to assist those in need.
We have been reviewing the incident at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of what happened and how it happened.
We will be opening a probe to examine this serious incident further. This will help us reduce the risk of such an event from occurring again.”
” The incident will be investigated in the Fact Finding and Assessment Mechanism: an independent, professional, and expert body.
For the last few months, the IDF has been working closely with the World Central Kitchen to assist them in fulfilling their noble mission of helping bring food and humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. WCK also came to help Israelis after the massacre of October 7th; they were one of the first NGOs here.
The work of WCK is critical; they are on the frontlines of humanity.
We will get to the bottom of this and we will share our findings transparently.”
World Central Kitchen: “seven members of our team have been killed in an IDF strike in Gaza…The WCK team was traveling in a deconflicted zone in two armored cars branded with the WCK logo and a soft skin vehicle. Despite coordinating movements with the IDF, the convoy was hit as it was leaving the Deir al-Balah warehouse…World Central Kitchen is pausing our operations immediately in the region. We will be making decisions about the future of our work soon.”
