{"id":258736,"date":"2024-04-08T12:01:10","date_gmt":"2024-04-08T11:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=258736"},"modified":"2024-04-04T06:48:18","modified_gmt":"2024-04-04T05:48:18","slug":"what-we-know-about-the-seven-world-central-kitchen-workers-killed-in-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/04\/what-we-know-about-the-seven-world-central-kitchen-workers-killed-in-gaza\/","title":{"rendered":"What We Know about the Seven World Central Kitchen Workers Killed in Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Rescuers carry the WCK workers to hospital\u00a0 [Video obtained by Reuters]<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

Citizens from Australia, the UK and Poland were among seven people who were killed in an Israeli airstrike.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

2 Apr 2024 <\/em>– Seven people working with the United States-based NGO World Central Kitchen<\/a> (WCK) have been killed in the Gaza Strip in what the group\u2019s founder chef said was an Israeli air attack.<\/p>\n

The NGO, which provides fresh meals in response to conflict and natural disasters, was set up by Michelin-starred chef Jose Andres and his wife Patricia in 2010, and has been supplying food assistance in Gaza, which the United Nations has warned is on the brink of famine.<\/p>\n

Here is what we know so far about the attack:<\/p>\n

What happened?<\/h2>\n

WCK said it was \u201cdevastated to confirm\u201d that seven members of the organisation had been killed while travelling in a convoy in Deir el-Balah after unloading 100 tonnes of food aid at its central Gaza warehouse.<\/p>\n

It said the group was travelling in a \u201cdeconflicted zone\u201d in two armoured vehicles that were branded with the WCK logo and that it had coordinated their movements with the Israeli military.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday described the air strike as \u201cunintended\u201d and \u201ctragic\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese things happen in wartime,\u201d Netanyahu said, adding that an investigation was under way. Officials are \u201cchecking this thoroughly\u201d and \u201cwill do everything for this not to happen again\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis 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,\u201d WCK CEO Erin Gore said in a statement on Tuesday. \u201cThis is unforgivable.\u201d<\/p>\n

WCK said its workers came from Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom and Palestine. One had dual Canada-US citizenship.<\/p>\n

Australia earlier confirmed the death of Zomi Frankcom who had worked with WCK since 2019. She was most recently senior manager for Asia operations in Bangkok, according to her LinkedIn profile.<\/p>\n

\"Australian
Australian World Central Kitchen aid worker Zomi Frankcom was confirmed among the seven WCK workers killed [World Central Kitchen via Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gaza\u2019s Ministry of Health also reported the attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday @WCKitchen lost several of our sisters and brothers in an IDF air strike in Gaza,\u201d Andres wrote on X. \u201cI am grieving for their families and friends and our whole WCK family. These are people.. angels\u2026 They are not faceless.. they are not nameless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their bodies were taken to the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone in the hospital is amazed and astonished, they don\u2019t believe Israeli forces targeted internationals,\u201d Al Jazeera\u2019s Hind Khoudary said.<\/p>\n

The Israeli military said it was investigating \u201cto understand all the circumstances of the incident\u201d and making \u201cextensive efforts to enable the safe delivery of humanitarian aid\u201d.<\/p>\n

Andres called on Israel to \u201cstop this indiscriminate killing \u2026 stop restricting humanitarian aid \u2026 and stop using food as a weapon\u201d.<\/p>\n

What does WCK do in Gaza?<\/h2>\n

WCK was involved in the distribution of some 200 tonnes of food aid that was brought to Gaza via a sea corridor from Cyprus in March.<\/p>\n

A second maritime aid shipment involving three ships carrying some 400 tonnes of food is expected to arrive imminently.<\/p>\n

The vessels are carrying supplies to prepare more than one million meals, including rice, pasta, flour and canned vegetables.<\/p>\n

WCK said it would pause its Gaza operations immediately. \u201cWe will be making decisions about the future of our work soon,\u201d it said in the statement.<\/p>\n

\"A
A Cyprus coastguard patrol boat approaches the cargo ship Jennifer, carrying food aid provided by US charity World Central Kitchen [Hasan Mroue\/AFP]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What is the food situation in Gaza?<\/h2>\n

The UN has issued stark warnings about the dire level of hunger now facing Gaza\u2019s 2.4 million people.<\/p>\n

A UN-backed report last month projected imminent famine in the territory\u2019s north, and warned that half of all people in Gaza were feeling \u201ccatastrophic\u201d hunger.<\/p>\n

The International Court of Justice, which is investigating the war in Gaza as a potential genocide, has ordered Israel to \u201censure urgent humanitarian assistance<\/a>\u201d in Gaza without delay, saying \u201cfamine is setting in\u201d.<\/p>\n

How have people reacted?<\/h2>\n

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called for \u201cfull accountability<\/a>\u201d for the attack as he confirmed Frankcom\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis news today is tragic,\u201d Albanese said. \u201cWe want full accountability for this. This is a tragedy that should never have occurred.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials in the US, where WCK is based, expressed dismay.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are heartbroken and deeply troubled by the strike that\u2026 killed @WCKitchen aid workers in Gaza,\u201d White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson wrote on social media platform X.<\/p>\n

\u201cHumanitarian aid workers must be protected as they deliver aid that is desperately needed, and we urge Israel to swiftly investigate what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is WCK?<\/h2>\n

Andres, a Spanish-American chef, set up the NGO after an earthquake in Haiti killed an estimated 220,000 people. WCK initially provided emergency food aid to the survivors of the disaster and says it has now served more than 350 million meals in crisis situations around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen disaster strikes, WCK\u2019s Relief Team mobilizes with the urgency of now to start cooking and serving meals to people in need,\u201d the group says on its website.<\/p>\n

As well as Gaza it is working in countries including Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Go to Original – aljazeera.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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