Israel Targeted And Bombed A Convoy Of International Aid Workers Delivering Food Into Gaza, Killing All Seven Aid Workers
The aid workers for charity World Central Kitchen were attacked as they were driving along a route that had been pre-approved by the Israeli military.
Israel targeted and bombed a convoy of international aid workers delivering food into Gaza, killing all seven aid workers.
The aid workers for charity World Central Kitchen were attacked after they unloaded more than 100 tons of food aid at a warehouse in Central Gaza on Monday April 1.
As they were driving along a route that had been pre-approved by the Israeli military, Israeli forces ordered a drone operator to attack one of the aid trucks with a missile, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
The 3 aid trucks had been clearly marked with the charity’s logo on top for Israeli drones to see.
Some of the passengers then switched to the second car and kept driving, notifying the people responsible they had been attacked, Haaretz reported.
But seconds later, another missile hit the second car.
The aid workers then tried to transfer their injured colleagues to the third car but then were hit by a third airstrike that killed them all.
The seven volunteers who were killed included three British nationals, an Australian, a Polish national, a Canadian-American dual citizen and a Palestinian.
Haaretz reported that the Israeli military had ordered the drone strike because it mistakenly thought that a member of Hamas was part of the aid convoy.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Israel had killed the aid workers, saying that it was “unintended” and that “it happens in war”, promising a “thorough inquiry”. World Central Kitchen suspended its operations in Gaza on Tuesday April 2.
As a result, Cyprus, which had sent aid ships, said its ships had turned back from Gaza with some 240 tons of undelivered aid.
That’s because World Central Kitchen had been one of the aid charities involved with unloading the ships and distributing the supplies from Cyprus.
It had also been in charge of delivering 62% of non-governmental aid to Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.
Following the attack, several other humanitarian aid organizations have also suspended operations in Gaza, which is on the brink of famine, saying it is too dangerous to operate there.
It is a crime to target aid workers under international humanitarian law, also known as the rules of war.
