Outrage as 7 aid workers are killed in Gaza, inquiry ordered
The passports of three World Central Kitchen workers were recovered after they were killed in Gaza by an Israeli airstrike on April 1.
7 aid workers were killed in Gaza by an Israeli airstrike on April 1, Al Jazeera reported.
Those killed were working with the World Central Kitchen (WCK), a US-based NGO dedicated to feeding those suffering during times of conflict, famine and natural disasters, and came from the UK, the US, Australia, Poland and Palestine.
Reports from the besieged Palestinian territory have found that 1 in 4 households are enduring famine-like conditions and the UN and aid organisations, including the WCK, have warned of an even more critical situation.
The NGO said that they were “devastated” at the news and that “humanitarian aid workers and civilians should never be a target”.
Three of the seven who were killed were British nationals named James Henderson, John Chapman and James Kirby as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak demanded a concrete investigation into the deaths from the Netanyahu government.
Australian national Lalzawmi Frankcom, Polish national Damian Sobol and Palestinian Saif Abu Taha were among the others killed in the strike. The US citizen has not been named as of yet.
Local sources and senior officials at the WCK said that the group, who were in two armoured vehicles, were killed due to a strike hitting them in Deir Al-Balah (southern Gaza) after they had unloaded 100 tonnes of food aid at its central Gaza warehouse.
READ: UN says Israel is holding back food for 1.1 million Gazans
On the evening of April 2, an appalled Rishi Sunak phoned his Israeli counterpart to inform him that, “far too many aid workers and ordinary civilians have lost their lives in Gaza” as well as noting that the already-chaotic situation had become “increasingly intolerable”.
The Prime Minister also wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “All our thoughts are with the families of those killed in this shocking strike, including three British aid workers. Israel must explain how this tragic incident happened and take immediate steps to protect aid workers and facilitate vital humanitarian operations in Gaza.”
His concerns were echoed by Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron who called on Israel to “immediately” investigate the incident as well as stressing that the UK government is in demand of a “a full, transparent explanation of what happened”.
Israel’s Prime Minister hit back, saying on April 2 that the strike was not targeting the aid workers and described the killings as “tragic”
White House National Security spokesman John Kirby commented, “We were outraged to learn of an (Israel Defense Forces) strike that killed a number of civilian humanitarian workers yesterday from the World Central Kitchen, which has been relentless and working to get food to those who are hungry in Gaza, and quite frankly, around the world.”
Al Jazeera/ BBC / The Independent
