‘It happens in wars’, says Netanyahu about attack that killed 7 NGO chef decorated by Obama | World

Israeli attack destroys car and kills 7 aid workers in Gaza

“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.

The attack, which hit two NGO vehicles, occurred on Monday (1st). The organization, created in the United States by Spanish chef José Andrés, famous in the USAhad taken a load of food to Palestinian territory hours before the bombing.

According to the NGO, among the dead there are three citizens of the United Kingdom, one from Australia, one from the United States, one from Poland, and one Palestinian.

The two vehicles that transported the victims and were hit had the NGO’s logo and name drawn on the roof (see image above) and they were traveling alone on a road in a conflict-free area. In a statement, World Central Kitchen stressed that the cars were armored and identified.

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”.

Spanish chef José Andrés stated that the NGO lost “several sisters and brothers in an attack by the Israel Defense Forces in the Gaza Strip“. “It’s a tragedy. Humanitarian and civilian workers should never be a target. Never,” said Andrés.

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

“This is not just an attack on World Central Kitchen, it is an attack on humanitarian organizations that find themselves in the most dire situations, where food is used as a weapon of war. This is unforgivable,” said the NGO’s CEO, Erin Gore.

The case also generated repercussions among world leaders and authorities.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Israel’s response “insufficient” and said World Central Kitchen “was doing extraordinary work” in Gaza. “Staff of humanitarian aid organizations must be protected,” she said.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was “shocked” by the attack. The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, said he was “horrified”, and the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, demanded explanations from Israel — one of the victims was an Australian employee of the NGO.

NGO workers had just delivered food and other humanitarian aid items to the northern Gaza Strip, where the population is on the brink of a famine. Video footage recorded at a hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah, in the Gaza Strip, 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.