International Desk: At least five aid workers were killed in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) bombing in the Gaza Strip. One of these aid workers is Palestinian, and the rest are citizens of Poland, Australia, and Britain.
All of the slain aid workers were representatives of World Central Kitchen (WCK), a US food aid charity, to distribute food aid in Gaza. In a post on social media X on Monday, WCC said in this regard, “We have learned that the members of the World Central Kitchen were killed in an IDF airstrike during the distribution of food to the Palestinians in Gaza. This is a very heartbreaking incident. Humanitarian aid workers and civilians should not be targeted. Never.’
In response to the incident, Hamas, the armed political group that controls the Gaza Strip, said in a statement that the IDF carried out the attack deliberately to cut off aid supplies to Gaza and cause panic among international aid workers.
On the other hand, denying this accusation of Hamas, the IDF claimed in a counter statement that the Israeli forces are never against the delivery of relief to Gaza. The IDF has also mentioned the tragic deaths of five WCK workers.
The IDF is always striving to ensure the safe delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza and is working closely with the WCC to provide relief to the people there, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.
A slain Australian aid worker has been identified. His name is Laljaomi Jomi Frankcom. 44-year-old Frankcom had been working as a WCC volunteer for the past 5 years.
In an interview with a radio channel a few hours after the attack on Monday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has started collecting information related to the attack on an urgent basis. A spokesperson of the Australian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Reuters in this regard, “The incident is very difficult. We have been saying since the beginning of this war that civilians must be kept out of the conflict. We have said more clearly: we expect relief and humanitarian aid workers in Gaza to have a safe and unimpeded working environment.’
American chef Jose Andres founded the global food relief organization World Central Kitchen in 2010. That year, the organization sent prepared food and foodstuffs as relief to earthquake-ravaged Haiti.
Since then, WCK has carried out relief activities in various parts of the world in various natural disasters, conflict situations, and corona conditions. The organization currently has relief operations in Ukraine (Gaza). World Central Kitchen has been distributing prepared food and foodstuffs in Gaza for the past 175 days.
In a message posted on social media X after Monday’s attack, Jose Andres said, “The government of Israel must stop the indiscriminate killings.” Along with this, blocking the entry of humanitarian aid, killing civilians and relief workers, and using food as a weapon must also be stopped. We don’t want to lose any more innocent lives. It is through our humane behavior that the peacebuilding process will begin, and it should begin now.’
