In an emotional interview with Reuters on Wednesday, the 3rd of April, Chef Jose Andres accused the Israeli army of systematically attacking the World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers’ cars in Gaza. He claimed that the attack, which killed seven of his aid workers, was not accidental and said that the Israeli military knew how his team was moving, reports Reuters.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) expressed “deep sorrow” over the incident and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a mistake.
Aid workers from Australia, the UK, Poland and the US were killed as their convoy was leaving a warehouse where they were unloading food that was shipped by sea to Gaza.
Jose Andres stressed that the humanitarian convoy was clearly marked with colourful logos and signs on the roofs of the vehicles, making it easily identifiable. He claimed that the IDF was aware of the convoy’s location.
“They attacked us in a deconflict zone,
an area controlled by the IDF. They knew that our teams were moving along this road… with three cars,” he was quoted as saying.
Andress said there may have been more than three strikes targeting the aid convoy. He described that the IDF attacked each of their vehicles consecutively, eventually forcing the team to transfer to a third vehicle. Despite the aid workers’ efforts to communicate their identities to the IDF, he said, the third car was also hit.
He rejected Israeli and US claims that the strikes were not deliberate.
“Initially, I would say categorically no,” Andres was quoted as responding to a question on whether he agreed with this Israeli explanation, stressing that no democratic state or military power should target civilians and humanitarian workers, even if it was not coordinated with the IDF.
Asked to comment on Andres’ remarks, the IDF Spokesman referred to earlier comments by Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi in which he called the incident a grave mistake and said that
the attack “was not carried out with the intention of harming WCK aid workers”.
Andres urged both the US government and the countries of the aid workers who lost their lives to investigate the incident.
Andres also called on President Biden to urge Prime Minister Netanyahu to stop the war immediately. He criticised the US policy of providing aid to Gaza while supplying arms to Israel and questioned the effectiveness of such actions.
He also questioned the logic behind Israel’s war to rescue hostages when they could be harmed by the same weapons used against the Palestinians.
At least 196 humanitarian workers have been killed in Gaza since October, according to UN figures.
US President Joe Biden said he was “outraged and heartbroken” by what had happened, but the US joined Netanyahu in saying the strikes were not deliberate.
Also read: Seven aid workers killed in Israeli strike
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