The World Central Kitchen organization suspends its operations in Gaza after its employees were targeted
The World Central Kitchen relief organization based in the United States confirmed on Tuesday that seven of its employees were killed in an Israeli strike on the Gaza Strip, announcing the suspension of its operations in the region.
The non-governmental organization reported in a statement that “seven members of our team were killed in a strike carried out by the Israeli armed forces in Gaza”.
The organization explained that among the killed were citizens from Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom, a citizen holding dual US and Canadian citizenship, and a Palestinian.
The organization said that it had decided to suspend its operations in the region.
Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza on October 7, the organization has actively participated in relief operations, especially by distributing food meals to residents of the Strip threatened by famine.
The organization explained that its team was traveling in a convoy that included two armored cars bearing the World Central Kitchen logo and a light vehicle when it was hit.
It continued in the statement, “Despite coordinating the movements with the Israeli armed forces, the convoy was hit as it was leaving the Deir al Balah warehouse, where the team unloaded more than 100 tons of humanitarian food aid that was transported to Gaza by sea”.
In addition, the White House on Monday expressed its deep sadness over the martyrdom of a number of foreign volunteers for the World Central Kitchen relief organization in an Israeli raid in the Gaza Strip, calling on Israel to quickly conduct an investigation to uncover the circumstances of what happened.
“We’re heartbroken and deeply disturbed by the raid that led to the killing of aid workers at World Central Kitchen in Gaza,” Adrienne Watson, spokeswoman for the US National Security Council, wrote on X.
She added, “Humanitarian relief workers must be protected because they provide aid for the Palestinians desperately need, and we urge Israel to quickly investigate what happened”.
According to the Hamas Ministry of Health, four foreign aid workers from World Central Kitchen were killed along with their Palestinian driver in an Israeli strike that targeted their armored car in the central Gaza Strip on Monday evening.
For its part, the Hamas government information office said, “The killed are 4 foreigners, three British, Australian, and Polish, and the fourth’s nationality isn’t known, in addition to the driver, a Palestinian translator, named Saif Issam Abu Taha”.
