Netanyahu Says Recent Airstrike Killing 7 Aid Workers Was “Unintentional”

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has acknowledged that an Israeli strike in Gaza resulted in the unintentional killing of seven individuals working for the food aid charity World Central Kitchen (WCK) on Monday, 1 April. 

“Unfortunately, in the last 24 hours, there was a tragic case of our forces unintentionally hitting innocent people in the Gaza Strip,” he said in a video message delivered in Hebrew.

Netanyahu assured that such occurrences are thoroughly investigated, and steps will be taken to prevent their recurrence.

WCK stated that their aid workers were traveling in a “deconflicted zone” using two armored vehicles marked with the charity’s logo, along with another non-armored vehicle. 

Despite coordinating their movements with the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), the convoy was struck as it departed the Deir al-Balah warehouse after unloading over 100 tons of humanitarian food aid brought to Gaza by sea.

The casualties included a dual US-Canada national, along with several aid workers from Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom, and a Palestinian. 

World Central Kitchen CEO Erin Gore expressed profound sadness and shock over the loss of lives in what the organization described as a targeted attack by the IDF.

World Central Kitchen, founded in 2010 by Michelin-star chef José Andrés, is a US-based organization dedicated to providing meals in response to humanitarian crises and natural disasters. 

Over the years, WCK has been actively involved in various missions, including providing aid in Ukraine, Haiti, and Puerto Rico.

The organization was able to provide 42 million meals over 175 days in Gaza, averaging about 240,000 meals per day. 

WCK has been expanding its humanitarian efforts in Gaza by participating in the first maritime aid shipment mission to Gaza in collaboration with the United Arab Emirates.

World Central Kitchen is among a handful of aid organizations providing essential food supplies in Gaza, where 2.2 million individuals are struggling with food scarcity. Aid agencies caution that half of the population is teetering on the edge of starvation and famine, primarily due to Israel’s restrictions on aid and extensive infrastructure damage.

Before the recent incident, the conflict in Gaza has seen the death of at least 196 aid workers. Most of those killed worked for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), which runs the largest aid operation in Gaza.