7 World Central Kitchen Relief Team Members Killed in Israeli Strike on Gaza, Organisation Say
(Arab World Press) - Seven members of the World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid organisation were killed in an Israeli strike on Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, the non-profit aid organisation confirmed in a statement on Tuesday.
“The WCK team was traveling in a deconflicted zone in two armoured cars branded with the WCK logo and a soft skin vehicle,” the statement added.
WCK said that despite coordinating its members’ movements with the Israeli army, its convoy was hit as it was departing a warehouse in Deir al-Balah, where the team had offloaded over 100 tons of food aid shipped to Gaza via the Mediterranean Sea.
The organisation confirmed that it is pausing all operations in the region with immediate effect, adding that the killed victims are from Australia, Poland, United Kingdom, Palestine, and a dual American Canadian citizen.
The Government Media Office in the Gaza Strip had reported that Israeli forces killed a foreign relief team of British, Polish, and Australian nationalities in Deir al-Balah on Monday.
The Israeli army responded in a statement stressing that it “is conducting an in-depth examination at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of this tragic incident.”
It added that the army is working “closely with the World Central Kitchen organisation in its vital efforts to provide food and humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.”
World Central Kitchen is a non-profit organisation that works in food security and provides aid to the displaced in the Gaza Strip and other conflict and disaster zones around the world.