By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
SvennoJ on 02 April 2024
Edit Thread

Islamic Relief condemns killings of World Central Kitchen workers

The group says it is “outraged by yet another deadly attack on humanitarian workers”. “Six months of Israeli bombing has turned Gaza into the world’s most dangerous place to deliver aid. More than 200 aid workers, mostly Palestinians, have been killed – the deadliest ever crisis for humanitarian workers,” a statement read.

“Children are starving to death because Israel is preventing sufficient aid from entering by land, and now humanitarian workers are being killed while they try to deliver life-saving food that has been shipped in by sea.”

Islamic Relief reiterated its demand for an immediate ceasefire.


A destroyed car of the NGO World Central Kitchen near Deir el-Balah

Humanitarian workers are #NotATarget, says UNRWA

The UN agency says 176 of its staff have been killed since the start of the war in Gaza, several in the line of duty. “In this war of ‘superlatives’, we are recording the highest number of aid workers killed in any conflict,” the agency says.

“Humanitarian workers are #NotATarget and must be protected at all times.”



Aid workers killed getting food to people ‘on the precipice of famine’

Safety concerns for humanitarian workers are again a focus after the killing of seven aid workers in an Israeli attack, says UNICEF’s spokeswoman Tess Ingram.

“It’s incredibly worrying for all of us. We’ve just had a meeting about it here,” she told Al Jazeera from southern Rafah in Gaza. “It’s an immense tragedy and adds to the total of more than 30,000 people killed during the war, including 174 UN colleagues. So it’s a dark day for us here.”

Ingram noted aid groups have coordination measures in place with warring factions to ensure attacks such as this do not happen.

“That is not functioning here in the Gaza Strip. We’ve been warning for a while that it’s not working – we’re not getting the security assurances that we need. It’s even worse that these people were killed just trying to deliver food to people on the precipice of famine. It’s an unspeakable loss.”

Cyprus president says maritime corridor for Gaza aid must keep operating

Nikos Christodoulides, the president of Cyprus, says the deadly Israeli attack on an aid convoy in Gaza should not impede efforts to get food into the enclave. “We need to double down on efforts to get aid to Gaza,” said Christodoulides, whose country opened the only maritime corridor to ship humanitarian relief into Gaza.

He described the World Central Kitchen (WCK), the charity group whose convoy was hit, as a “crucial partner” in this operation.

WCK, which helped distribute the first aid shipment routed through the sea corridor last month, paused its operations in Gaza following the Israeli military strike that killed seven staff.

Israel’s attack on convoy could push more aid groups out of Gaza

The Israeli military’s attack on the World Central Kitchen aid convoy is devastating – targeting one of the most prominent humanitarian organisations in Gaza coordinating much-needed food delivered through the recently established maritime corridor.

As we’ve heard from the directors, the charity has now suspended its operations in Gaza and is considering future work inside the enclave. This could lead to negative repercussions for the humanitarian situation in the desperate north, where the group was distributing aid.

The attack further shows that Israel, despite repeatedly saying it is facilitating aid within Gaza, is at the same time attacking aid workers, aid seekers, and now the very organisations responsible for distributing humanitarian relief.

From a Palestinian perspective, this could be a possible step by the Israeli military to push humanitarian organisations to stop operating inside Gaza. That would give the military more flexible operational mobility on the ground in the north and force residents to flee from there.