Seven World Central Kitchen workers killed in Gaza PHOTO

Seven people working with the United States-based NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK) have been killed in the Gaza Strip in what the group’s founder chef said was an Israeli air attack.

The NGO, which provides fresh meals in response to conflict and natural disasters, was set up by Michelin-starred chef Jose Andres and his wife Patricia in 2010, and has been supplying food assistance in Gaza, which the United Nations has warned is on the brink of famine, according to Al Jazeera.

WCK said it was “devastated to confirm” that seven members of the organisation had been killed while travelling in a convoy in Deir el-Balah after unloading 100 tonnes of food aid at its central Gaza warehouse.

It said the group was travelling in a “deconflicted zone” in two armoured vehicles that were branded with the WCK logo and that it had coordinated their movements with the Israeli military.

“This is not only an attack against WCK, this is an attack on humanitarian organisations showing up in the most dire of situations where food is being used as a weapon of war,” WCK CEO Erin Gore said in a statement on April 2. “This is unforgivable.”

WCK said its workers came from Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom and Palestine. One had dual Canada-US citizenship.

Australia earlier confirmed the death of Zomi Frankcom who had worked with WCK since 2019. She was most recently senior manager for Asia operations in Bangkok, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Gaza’s Ministry of Health also reported the attack.

“Today WCKitchen lost several of our sisters and brothers in an IDF air strike in Gaza,” Andres wrote on X. “I am grieving for their families and friends and our whole WCK family. These are people.. angels… They are not faceless.. they are not nameless.”

Their bodies were taken to the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

“Everyone in the hospital is amazed and astonished, they don’t believe Israeli forces targeted internationals,” Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said.

The Israeli military said it was investigating “to understand all the circumstances of the incident” and making “extensive efforts to enable the safe delivery of humanitarian aid”.

Andres called on Israel to “stop this indiscriminate killing … stop restricting humanitarian aid … and stop using food as a weapon”.