After Seven Workers Killed in Airstrike, World Central Kitchen Pauses Gaza Operations

The workers had been delivering food to civilians in Gaza, where half of its population is on the brink of famine

After seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen delivered a crucial shipment of food to displaced civilians in Gaza, they were killed in an Israeli airstrike, according to the nonprofit.

The workers from the UK, Australia, Poland, Palestine, and a dual citizen of the US and Canada, were traveling in two armored cars branded with the charity’s logo in a deconflicted zone, said WCK in a statement issued Tuesday morning.

“Despite coordinating movements with the IDF, the convoy was hit as it was 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,” stated the group.

Erin Gore, chief executive of World Central Kitchen, said, “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.”

The WCK, which operates in crisis areas around the globe, said it has paused operations in the region and will “be making decisions about the future of our work soon.”

José Andrés, the chef who founded the nonprofit, said on X/Twitter that the Israeli military was behind the airstrike, but that was not immediately confirmed.

“The Israeli government needs to stop this indiscriminate killing. It needs to stop restricting humanitarian aid, stop killing civilians and aid workers, and stop using food as a weapon,” he wrote. “No more innocent lives lost. Peace starts with our shared humanity. It needs to start now.”

Graphic footage that the Associated Press said was from Al-Aqsa Hospital showed at least five bodies. Hospital staff appeared to show passports of foreign nationals from Australia, Britain and Poland; the nationality of the fourth aid worker was not immediately clear. Some appeared to wear protective gear with the charity’s logo. A Palestinian man was among those killed, who was described in a news conference as the nonprofit’s driver at the time of the strike.

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The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was conducting a review “to understand the circumstances of this tragic incident.”

Last month, World Central Kitchen became the first to test a new maritime corridor for desperately needed aid to northern Gaza, where the United Nations’ Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) estimated famine will reach by May and could spread throughout the rest of Gaza by July.

Earlier on Monday, AP reported that the group’s second delivery by sea, carrying 400 tons of food and supplies from Cyprus, had arrived for the territory. The Israeli military was reportedly involved in coordinating both of the nonprofit’s deliveries.

In late February, health authorities in Gaza reported that Israeli soldiers shot at a crowd that had gathered to receive food from an aid convoy, the first delivery to the region in a month, and that more than 100 people were killed and approximately 760 were wounded in the attack. According to the Gaza health ministry, more than 32,000 people have been killed since October 7.

This article was updated on April 2 at 2:34 a.m. E.T. to include statements from World Central Kitchen.

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