“Should never have happened”
Foreign aid workers killed in airstrike in Gaza
April 2, 2024, 6:39 a.m
Listen to article
This audio version was artificially generated. More info | Send feedback
World Central Kitchen operates community kitchens in the Gaza Strip that distribute meals to the Palestinian population. Many foreigners also work for the aid organization in the war zone. Four of them die in an air raid.
According to Palestinian media reports, at least five employees of the aid organization World Central Kitchen were killed in a suspected Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip. The victims of the attack on a vehicle south of Dair al-Balah in the center of the sealed-off coastal strip included four foreign nationals from Poland, Australia, Ireland and Great Britain as well as their Palestinian driver, the Times of Israel reported.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed the death of an Australian aid worker and strongly condemned the attack. “This is a tragedy that should never have happened,” Australian media quoted Albanese as saying. His government contacted the Israeli government directly about the incident. The Israeli army wrote on Telegram that the military was “conducting a thorough investigation at the highest level to understand the circumstances of this tragic incident.”
The aid organization World Central Kitchen, which was founded by Spanish celebrity chef José Andrés who lives in the USA, wrote on X that it was aware of the reports. “This is a tragedy.” Humanitarian workers and civilians should never be targeted, it said. World Central Kitchen operates community kitchens in the Gaza Strip with local partners that prepare meals for the Palestinian population. The organization is currently also involved in aid deliveries that have been arriving by sea from Cyprus to the war zone since March.
She also took over the distribution of relief supplies on site. Photos and video footage that circulated on social media overnight are said to show the World Central Kitchen employees who were killed. You can see their bodies in protective vests and their blood-smeared passports. According to Palestinian information, the Australian woman and her colleagues as well as their Palestinian driver were in the process of delivering relief supplies at the time of the air strike, wrote the newspaper “The Sydney Morning Herald”. They had arrived in Gaza just a few hours earlier on a ship from Cyprus.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army’s statement said its own forces were making extensive efforts to enable the safe delivery of humanitarian aid and were working closely with World Central Kitchen to provide food and humanitarian assistance to people in the embattled Gaza Strip.