7 World Central Kitchen workers killed in Israeli airstrike; food charity halts operations in Gaza

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip - World Central Kitchen, the food charity founded by celebrity chef José Andrés, has suspended operations in the Gaza region after an Israeli airstrike killed seven members of their team on Monday.

The workers were killed hours after the group brought in a new shipload of food by a maritime route the United States has hoped would be an alternative lifeline for northern Gaza that has been isolated and pushed to the brink of famine by Israel’s offensive.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has acknowledged that Israeli forces carried out the strike that killed seven aid workers in Gaza. In a statement on Tuesday, he said: "Unfortunately over the last day there was a tragic incident of an unintended strike of our forces on innocent people in the Gaza Strip." He says officials are "checking this thoroughly" and "will do everything for this not to happen again."

Footage from the area showed the bodies of several of those who were killed at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah. Several of them wore protective gear with the charity’s logo. The seven killed are from Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada, and Palestine, according to the group.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed that Zomi Frankcom, 44, of Melbourne, was among those killed and said his government has requested an explanation from Israel.

"This is someone who was volunteering overseas to provide aid through this charity for people who are suffering tremendous deprivation in Gaza. And this is just completely unacceptable," Albanese told reporters according to the Associated Press. "We want full accountability for this because this is a tragedy that should never have occurred."

Poland’s Foreign Ministry posted "sincerest words of sympathy" to the family of a volunteer who had offered assistance to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, without saying how he was killed. The Foreign Ministry said it is requesting an explanation from Israel.

Britain’s Foreign Office said it was aware of reports of the death of a British national in Gaza and was "urgently seeking further information."

World Central Kitchen released the following statement:

"World Central Kitchen is devastated to confirm seven members of our team have been killed in an IDF strike in Gaza.

The WCK team was traveling in a deconflicted zone in two armored cars branded with the WCK logo and a soft skin vehicle.

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.

"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. This is unforgivable," said World Central Kitchen CEO Erin Gore.

The seven killed are from Australia, Poland, United Kingdom, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada, and Palestine.

"I am heartbroken and appalled that we - World Central Kitchen and the world - lost beautiful lives today because of a targeted attack by the IDF. The love they had for feeding people, the determination they embodied to show that humanity rises above all, and the impact they made in countless lives will forever be remembered and cherished," said Erin.

The IDF says it is "carrying out an in-depth examination at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of this tragic incident."

World Central Kitchen is pausing our operations immediately in the region. We will be making decisions about the future of our work soon."

Mahmoud Thabet, a Palestinian Red Crescent paramedic who was on the team that brought the bodies to the hospital, told The Associated Press the workers were in a three-car convoy that was crossing out of northern Gaza when an Israeli missile hit. Thabet said he was told by WCK staff the team had been in the north coordinating distribution of the newly arrived aid and were heading back to Rafah in the south.

The source of fire could not be independently confirmed.

Three aid ships from Cyprus arrived earlier Monday carrying some 400 tons of food and supplies organized by the charity and the United Arab Emirates — the group’s second shipment after a pilot run last month. The Israeli military was involved in coordinating both deliveries.

The U.S. has touted the sea route as a new way to deliver desperately needed aid to northern Gaza, where the U.N. has said much of the population is on the brink of starvation, largely cut off from the rest of the territory by Israeli forces. Israel has barred UNRWA, the main U.N. agency in Gaza, from making deliveries to the north, and other aid groups say sending truck convoys north has been too dangerous because of the military’s failure to ensure safe passage.

The strike came hours after Israeli troops ended a two-week raid on Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest, leaving the facility largely gutted and a swath of destruction in the surrounding neighborhoods. Footage showed Shifa’s main buildings had been reduced to burned-out husks.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.