They call it “The Fog of War,” some call it “Friendly Fire,” regardless there really isn’t any good explanation for when innocent people die while helping others in a war zone. Such was the case Tuesday when an Israeli airstrike killed seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen,(WCK) one of the most respected food outreach programs in the world who was on the ground in helping to feed the people of Gaza and making sure Hamas did not get their hands on the aid.
World Central Kitchen, a food charity founded by celebrity chef José Andrés, the organization has worked with Israel and other countries in the region to assure the people of Gaza get the aid meant for them. The WCK has played a major part in keeping Hamas from stealing the food and other supplies meant for those who need them most.
This is far from the first time the WCK has been in war zones Andrés — whose charity operates in several countries wracked by wars in most recently the Ukraine. They were in Israel after the Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war and they helped many Israeli’s get much needed food along with medical suplies.
“The Israeli government needs to stop this indiscriminate killing. It needs to stop restricting humanitarian aid, stop killing civilians and aid workers, and stop using food as a weapon,” Andres wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
In a prepared statement Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged that the country’s forces had carried out the “unintended strike … on innocent people.” He said officials were looking into the strike and would work to ensure it did not happen again.
According to the Associated Press video footage showed the bodies, several wearing protective gear with the charity’s logo, at a hospital in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah. Those killed include three British nationals, an Australian, a Polish national, an American-Canadian dual citizen and a Palestinian, according to hospital records.
At today’s press briefing David Mencer, the Israeli Government Spokesperson, praised the World Central Kitchen aid workers, and expressed that Israel mourned the loss of the seven members of their team. He also pointed out that the WCK was one of the first groups to come to the aid of Israel soon after the October 7, 2024 Hamas attack.
Mencer continued to praise the work of the WCK and once again stated the promise of the Prime Minister to get to the bottom of how the accident occurred so that nothing like this could happen again. He refuted the notion that Israel has not been allowing aid to reach Gaza by stating the number of aid trucks that have are about five times as many reaching the residents of Gaza since the process started.
Mencer also made it clear the Israel had no beef with the Palestinian people but it was Hamas and that the goal is to end the war so that everyone can find a peaceful future.
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