For Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the incident, which also killed a Pole, subjects solidarity with Israel to a “severe test.”
Pope Francis expressed his “profound sadness” at the deaths of the aid workers and appealed for the “exhausted and suffering civilian population to have access to humanitarian aid and for the hostages to be released immediately.”
The WCK organization, founded by Spanish chef José Andrés, who also has American citizenship, said it is mourning the deaths of seven “heroes”, in a “targeted attack”, carried out despite the group having coordinated its movements with the Israeli forces.
WCK released the identities of the seven workers: Palestinian Saifeddine Issam Ayad Abutaha, 25; Australian Lalzawmi (Zomi) Frankcom, 43; Polish Damian Sobol, 35; American-Canadian Jacob Flickinger, 33; and Britons John Chapman, 57, James (Jim) Henderson, 33, and James Kirby, 47.
The organization suspended food delivery operations and a ship from Cyprus, which was already near the coast of Gaza with almost 240 tons of supplies, returned to the European continent without unloading the supplies.
– Shortage of medicines –
The war in Gaza began on October 7, when Islamist militiamen from Gaza killed 1,160 people, most of them civilians, in southern Israel, according to a count based on data released by Israeli authorities.
