Gaza: Israel blamed for the death of seven employees of an American NGO

Rubble searches around al-Chifa hospital, Gaza, April 1, 2024

The United States-based humanitarian NGO World Central Kitchen on Tuesday accused Israel of carrying out a “targeted attack” that killed seven of its employees in the famine-threatened Gaza Strip, with the Israeli army promising to open an investigation.

Since the start of the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip almost six months ago, WCK has participated in humanitarian operations, notably by providing meals to the hungry residents of the besieged and war-devastated Palestinian territory.

“World Central Kitchen is devastated, and confirms that seven members of our team were killed in Gaza in an IDF strike,” the Israeli armed forces deplored the NGO on Monday announcing “suspend its operations in the region”.

“I am heartbroken and dismayed that we, World Central Kitchen and the world, lost beautiful lives today due to a targeted IDF attack,” said WCK President Erin Gore.

The victims were “from Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom, (which they also included) a citizen with dual American and Canadian nationality and a Palestinian person,” according to the NGO.

Australia denounced a “completely unacceptable” event while Warsaw and Madrid demanded “explanations”, with Spain condemning a “brutal attack”.

China said it was “shocked” and the head of European Union diplomacy, Joseph Borrell, called for an “investigation to be launched as quickly as possible”.

The United Kingdom expects “transparent and complete explanations” from Israel, declared the head of British diplomacy David Cameron.

The United States, Israel’s biggest ally, said it was “deeply troubled” and called for “protection of aid workers.”

– Gaping hole –

“We urge Israel to promptly investigate what happened,” Adrienne Watson, spokesperson for the National Security Council at the White House, said on X.

Initially, the Hamas Ministry of Health reported five victims arriving at a hospital in Deir el-Balah (center), after “an Israeli airstrike targeting a vehicle of the American organization World Central Kitchen”.

An AFP correspondent saw five bodies and three foreign passports near the remains at Deir el-Balah hospital. In an AFP image we can see the body of one of the victims wearing a black T-shirt with the NGO logo. Images from AFPTV show the destroyed carcass of the vehicle, a gaping hole in the roof, right over the World Central Kitchen logo.

WCK participated in sending a first aid boat from Cyprus to Gaza which unloaded its cargo in mid-March under the supervision of the Israeli army.

This strike is “a message sent by the Israeli army” aimed at preventing humanitarian workers from intervening on the ground, the vice-president of Médecins du Monde, Jean-François Corty, denounced on franceinfo on Tuesday.

Since the start of the war, which caused a humanitarian catastrophe and colossal destruction in the Gaza Strip, 32,916 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in the Palestinian territory, according to a latest report from the Gaza Ministry of Health. Hamas published Tuesday.

Deadly bombardments continue on the ground, where Israeli soldiers withdrew from the al-Chifa hospital complex in Gaza on Monday after two weeks of operations, leaving behind immense destruction and dead bodies.

Doctors and civilians at the complex told AFP that at least 20 bodies had been found, some of which appeared to have been driven over by military vehicles.

– Ban Al Jazeera –

In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Monday that he wanted to “act immediately” to ban the broadcast of the Qatari channel Al Jazeera in the country, shortly after Parliament voted for a law authorizing it to do so.

Al Jazeera, which accuses Israel of systematically targeting its journalists in the Gaza Strip, denounced a “frantic campaign” against it.

The Washington-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) “urged the Israeli government not to close the bureau” of Al Jazeera in Jerusalem.

Furthermore, according to the White House, Israeli officials spoke with their American counterparts remotely on Monday and “agreed to take into account” American concerns about Israel’s planned offensive on Rafah, in southern Gaza, where 1.5 million Palestinians are crowded, most of them displaced by the war.

The war has also heightened fears of an escalation of conflict in the region. Eleven people, including seven Revolutionary Guards – Iran’s ideological army – were killed Monday in an unprecedented raid attributed to Israel against the consular section of the Iranian embassy in Damascus.

Tehran denounced a “cowardly crime” which “will be punished”.

LNT with Afp