Israeli strikes on an aid convoy run by the charity group World Central Kitchen killed seven of its workers in the Gaza Strip, setting off international outrage and underscoring the risks to humanitarian workers trying to alleviate a looming famine.
The aid workers — a Palestinian, an Australian, a Pole, three Britons and a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen — were traveling in two armored vehicles clearly marked with the World Central Kitchen logo and a third vehicle when they came under fire late Monday night, according to the charity.
The convoy was hit despite having coordinated its movements with the Israeli military, the group said. The workers were leaving a warehouse in Deir al Balah, in central Gaza, where the team had unloaded more than 100 tons of humanitarian food aid that had arrived by boat on Monday, World Central Kitchen said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who rarely comments on deadly strikes in Gaza, released a videotaped statement on Tuesday in which he appeared to acknowledge that the Israeli military was responsible. Israel launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the strikes.
“Unfortunately, in the last day there was a tragic case of our forces unintentionally hitting innocent people in the Gaza Strip,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “It happens in war, we are fully examining this, we are in contact with the governments and we will do everything so that this thing does not happen again.”
World Central Kitchen, which was founded by the renowned chef José Andrés, said on Tuesday that it was suspending operations in the territory.
“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,” Erin Gore, the group’s chief executive, said in a statement. “This is unforgivable.”
Several nations, including the home countries of the people killed, voiced indignation and demanded explanations. David Cameron, the British foreign secretary, called their deaths “completely unacceptable” in a social media post, adding, “Israel must urgently explain how this happened and make major changes to ensure the safety of aid workers.”
John F. Kirby, a White House spokesman, said the United States was “outraged” and that the attack was “emblematic of a larger problem.”
Videos and photos verified by The New York Times suggest the convoy was hit multiple times. The imagery shows three destroyed white vehicles, with the northernmost and southernmost vehicles nearly a mile and a half apart.
The World Central Kitchen logo could be seen on items inside the charred interior of the northernmost and southernmost cars. The car in the middle was left with a gaping hole in its roof, emblazoned with the group’s logo. All three vehicles, though far apart from each other, were on or near the same coastal road.
It remained unclear on Tuesday morning what sort of munitions struck the cars and whether those explosives were launched from the ground, from a warplane or from a drone.
The war in Gaza has proved exceptionally dangerous for aid workers. As of March 20, at least 196 have been killed there since the fighting began on Oct. 7, most of them Palestinian employees of the main U.N. relief organization there, according to the United Nations. Israeli strikes have hit aid distribution centers, schools and shelters run by aid groups.
Throughout the war, Palestinians and relief organizations have accused Israel of bombing indiscriminately, heedless of civilian casualties — a claim Israel denies. The killing of aid workers from countries that have backed Israel could add fuel to rising anger over the way it has conducted the war.
In the aftermath of the attack on World Central Kitchen workers, other aid groups said they were also reassessing their plans. American Near East Refugee Aid, or Anera, said it was suspending operations in Gaza, given the rising threats to aid workers.
“Everybody feels endangered now,” said Michael Capponi, the founder of Global Empowerment Mission, a nonprofit aid group distributing tents, sleeping bags, medical equipment and food to Palestinians in Gaza.
Mr. Capponi said he was reconsidering his plans to travel to Gaza next week. Some staff members, who had been communicating daily with the World Central Kitchen workers who died, “basically want to pack up and go home now,” he said, though there were no firm plans for them to leave.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia identified one of the victims as Zomi Frankcom, an Australian citizen who was a manager at World Central Kitchen. “We want full accountability for this, because this is a tragedy that should never have occurred,” he told reporters.
“The truth is that this is beyond any reasonable circumstances,” he said.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said the United States government had spoken to Israeli officials about the strike and had urged a swift and impartial investigation.
“These people are heroes,” Mr. Blinken said, referring to the aid workers. “They run into the fire, not away from it. They show the best of what humanity really has to offer when the going gets tough. They have to be protected.”
A spokesman for Israel’s military, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said the investigation would be carried out by a military body that examines battlefield incidents.
“We will be opening a probe to examine this serious incident further,” he said. “This will help us reduce the risk of such an event from occurring again.”
Admiral Hagari said that Israeli forces had 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.” Noting that the group had delivered food to Israel after the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, he said the charity was on the “front lines of humanity.”
World Central Kitchen had recently become an important player in the delivery of aid into Gaza, organizing two shipments of food that had arrived in the territory by boat from Cyprus, a maritime route intended to supplement the limited aid that has been delivered by trucks and dropped from airplanes.
The group was trying to help ease widespread hunger in Gaza, where Palestinians, particularly in the north, have been fighting starvation and regularly converge on the relatively few aid trucks that enter the territory.
On Monday, workers unloaded food from the World Central Kitchen vessel, the Jennifer, at a hastily built jetty on the Mediterranean coast. They planned to unload 240 tons more on Tuesday, according to Theodoros Gotsis, a spokesman for the Cypriot foreign ministry.
Mr. Gotsis said that the Jennifer had instead left Gaza to sail back to Cyprus on Tuesday, with most of its cargo still on board. He added that several more tons of aid were waiting at warehouses in a Cypriot port, but that it was not clear if the aid would now be delivered to Gaza.
Aid groups have said that only a cease-fire and the opening of more border crossings from Israel would allow workers to deliver enough food and other essentials to Gazans without putting more lives at risk.
Among those killed in the strikes was Saif Abu Taha, a 26-year-old Gazan working as a driver and translator for World Central Kitchen. He and others workers were proud to have been delivering food to hungry people, his brother Shadi said.
“They were so excited, like they were going to a wedding,” the brother said.
Damian Sobol, an aid worker from the southeastern Polish city of Przemysl, was also killed, according to the city’s mayor, Wojciech Bakun.
Save the Children, which distributes food, water, medical supplies and toiletries in Gaza, urged the warring parties in Gaza to adhere to international laws that protect humanitarian workers. The group said a local staff member was killed in an Israeli airstrike in December.
“The news of the attack is horrific — it’s a nightmare come true for us,” said Soraya Ali, a spokeswoman for the group. “We know, unfortunately, that Gaza right now is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a humanitarian worker.”
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