An Israeli bombing kills seven volunteers from World Central Kitchen, José Andrés' NGO, in Gaza

The non-governmental organization World Central Kitchen (WCK), promoted by Spanish chef José Andrés, reported this Tuesday that seven of its members died on Monday as a result of bombings by the Israeli Army. There are several aid workers who were traveling in two cars “armored and identified with the WCK logo” that were hit when they were leaving a warehouse in Deir el Balah, in the center of Gaza, despite having coordinated their movements with the Israeli army, according to a complaint. the NGO in a statement. WCK is dedicated to providing food in conflict places or who have suffered disasters and have been in Gaza for six months, in which they have served more than 42 million meals, according to their data.

“World Central Kitchen is devastated to confirm that seven members of our team have been killed in an Israeli army attack in Gaza,” the NGO states in a statement. According to the note, the team members “were traveling in a demilitarized zone in two armored cars with the WCK logo and a light vehicle.” “Despite coordinating its movements with the Israeli army, the convoy was hit when leaving a warehouse in Deir el Balah, where the team had unloaded more than 100 tons of food brought to Gaza by the sea route,” in reference to the maritime corridor. from Cyprus established by the EU and the US and which was launched a couple of weeks ago by the Spanish ship Open Arms loaded with food collected by WCK.

The deceased are nationals of Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom, Palestine and a citizen with dual US and Canadian nationality. “This is not an attack against WCK, it is an attack against humanitarian organizations that appear in the harshest situations in which food is used as a weapon of war. It is inexcusable,” says the head of the NGO, Erin Gore, in the note, adding that the Israeli army is going to carry out an “in-depth examination at the highest level” of the incident. For the moment, the NGO has decided to suspend its operations in the region.

“Today World Central Kitchen lost several of our brothers and sisters in an Israel Defense Forces airstrike in Gaza. I am heartbroken and saddened for their families and friends and our entire WCK family. These are people…angels…I served with in Ukraine, Gaza, Turkey, Morocco, Bahamas, Indonesia. “They are not faceless people… they are not nameless people,” chef José Andrés has tweeted.

José Andrés has used an unusually harsh tone when holding Israel responsible for the deaths of his colleagues and, by extension, for the humanitarian crisis in the Strip. “The Israeli government must put an end to this indiscriminate killing. It must stop restricting humanitarian aid, stop killing civilians and aid workers, and stop using food as a weapon. No more loss of innocent lives. Peace begins with our shared humanity. It has to start now,” added the Spanish chef and philanthropist.

Video images and photographs released showed the bodies of the five dead in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, in the city of Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza. Several of them were wearing protective equipment with the charity's logo. Staff showed the passports of three of the deceased: British, Australian and Polish. Local sources said the fourth volunteer was Irish.

The Al Arabiya network reported that they were killed, along with the driver, when the vehicle in which they were traveling was hit by Israeli bombing. Just three hours before the attack, the NGO recalled on the social network that its activity on the ground includes a network of 60 portable kitchens in southern and central Gaza, which provide “hundreds of thousands of meals a day” to civilians. displaced by the Israeli offensive.

Mahmoud Thabet, a Palestinian Red Crescent paramedic who was part of the team that transported the bodies to the hospital, told the AP that the workers were in a three-car convoy crossing the northern Gaza exit when a missile hit. Israeli. Thabet said WCK staff had informed him that the team had been in the north coordinating the distribution of newly arrived aid and was heading back to Rafah in the south.

“We have received word that members of the World Central Kitchen team have been killed in an attack by the Israel Defense Forces while working to support our humanitarian food delivery efforts in Gaza. It's a tragedy. Aid workers and civilians should NEVER be a target. NEVER”, the World Central Kitchen account has tweeted.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it was “conducting a thorough review at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of this tragic incident.” It also maintained that it “makes great efforts to enable the safe delivery of humanitarian aid, and has been working closely with WCK in its vital efforts to provide food and humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.”

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