Israel attacked NGO employees who died in the Gaza Strip on purpose, says the organization’s founder | World

Israeli attack destroys car and kills 7 aid workers in Gaza

The Spanish chef is famous in the United States for appearing on several TV shows, distributing food and having been decorated by former US President Barack Obama with a medal for humanitarian services from the US government.

The attack hit two NGO vehicles. The organization had taken a load of food to Palestinian territory hours before the bombing. In a statement, World Central Kitchen stressed that the cars were armored and identified.

Andres gave an interview to the Reuters news agency and stated that the charity had communicated with the Israeli army and that the military knew in advance what the employees’ routes would be.

The deaths “weren’t just a bad luck situation where they dropped a bomb in the wrong place,” he said. The chef stated that even if the NGO had not combined movements with the Israel Defense Forces, no democratic country or military force can attack civilians and people working with humanitarian aid.

The workers were killed when the convoy they were in was hit, shortly after they had supervised the delivery of 100 tons of food that the group took to the Gaza Strip on a ship.

Israel’s army said it feels “deep regret” over the incident, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was unintentional.

However, says the founder of the NGO, there were more than three shots fired at the humanitarian aid convoy. He was supposed to go to the Gaza Strip himself, but plans changed.

Andres spoke with US President Joe Biden and asked Americans to do more to stop the war.

The NGO World Central Kitchen announced a pause in its operations in the region following the attack. The entity is now studying security conditions in the Gaza Strip to decide whether to resume trips to deliver humanitarian aid items.

Joe Biden said Tuesday he is outraged by the deaths of seven World Central Kitchen workers. An American was among the victims.

The US president said the deaths are not an isolated incident and stated that the NGO’s employees “were courageous and selfless and their deaths are a tragedy.”

Biden too demanded a thorough investigation to find out why the cars where the NGO workers were riding was bombed. According to the NGO, the vehicles had the logo and name drawn on the roof (see image below) and they were traveling alone on a road in a conflict-free area.

“This investigation must be swift, it must bring accountability and its findings must be released to the public,” Biden said.

The US president also said that “Israel does not do enough to protect aid workers” who bring aid to the population of the Gaza Strip, which is on the brink of collapse from famine.

“Incidents like yesterday simply should not happen. Israel also has not done enough to protect civilians. The US has repeatedly asked Israel to decouple its military operations against Hamas from humanitarian operations in order to avoid civilian casualties,” said Joe Biden in note.

“Unfortunately, on the last day there was a tragic case in which our forces unintentionally targeted innocent people in the Gaza Strip. It happens in wars, and we are checking until the end, we are in contact with the governments, and we will do everything to ensure that this does not happen again”, declared the prime minister.

After the episode, the Israeli Defense Minister announced that it will open a situation room to coordinate the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza together with “international groups”.

The Israeli Armed Forces also issued a statement this Tuesday admitting guilt and stating that the attack was a “tragic result” of an Israeli bombing. In a video message this Tuesday (2), the Army spokesman said he had called Spanish chef José Andrés to express “the deepest feelings”.

The NGO World Central Kitchen assists with humanitarian aid in the north of the Gaza Strip, where the population is on the brink of a hunger crisis. Video footage recorded at a hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah, in Gaza, shows that some of them were wearing protective items that had the NGO’s logo.

This week, World Central Kitchen sent a ship with around 400 tons of food and humanitarian aid items to the Gaza Strip. The shipment was organized by the United Arab Emirates and is expected to arrive next week on the Gaza coast.

The UN has an agency specialized in serving Palestinians that operates in the Gaza Strip, but Israel has banned this entity from making deliveries in the north of the territory. Other aid groups say sending convoys of trucks north has been too dangerous due to the army’s lack of security guarantees.

See below a video about the possibility of a hunger crisis in the Gaza Strip.

The International Court of Justice – the UN’s main judicial body – ordered Israel to guarantee the delivery of food to the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip

The attack took place hours after Israeli forces ended a two-week period of military actions at Al-Shifa hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip. The hospital was destroyed, and part of the building was reduced to ashes.

The military claimed to have killed 200 Hamas militants during their hospital stay, but major news agencies were unable to confirm whether they all actually belonged to the terrorist group.

The local government, controlled by Hamas, said it had removed civilian bodies from the wreckage.