On Monday, seven humanitarian workers delivering food supplies in Gaza were killed in an Israeli airstrike, adding to the list of volunteers and journalists killed since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu On Tuesday, Israeli forces admitted to “unintentionally” attacking a convoy belonging to the humanitarian organization World Central Kitchen (WCK) in Gaza.
“That's what happens in war,” Netanyahu said. “We will investigate to the end, we will check to the end. We are in contact with governments and we will do everything we can to prevent something like this from happening again.”
WCK, a nonprofit organization founded by celebrity chef Jose Andrés, has provided more than 37 million meals to Palestinians in Gaza since October 7. The charity said in a statement that it was feeding seven people. The aid workers killed included Australian, Polish and British nationals, as well as a dual citizen of the United States and Canada. and a Palestinian driver.
“They are not faceless. They are not nameless. The Israeli government needs to stop this indiscriminate killing,” Andres said. In the post of X. “We need to stop restricting humanitarian aid, stop killing civilians and aid workers, and stop using food as a weapon.”
At least 200 humanitarian workers reportedly killed in Gaza
This is not the first incident of violence against aid workers since the war began nearly six months ago. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the United Nations' main agency in Gaza, 176 employees reported dead since the war started.
This “superlative” war records the highest number of aid workers killed in any conflict.
176 @UNRWA Employees have been killed since the war began #Gazaseveral people on duty.
Humanitarian aid workers are #NotA target and must be protected at all times. pic.twitter.com/hUVRtzpNKs
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) April 2, 2024
The US-funded Aid Worker Security Database, which records major incidents of violence against aid workers, records that more than 196 aid workers have been killed in Gaza, but all He was not killed in the line of duty.
Jamie McGoldrick, UN aid coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, said in a statement that the number of aid workers killed was “nearly three times the number of deaths recorded in a single year of conflict”.
'The most dangerous time' for journalists and media workers
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) calls the Israel-Hamas war the “deadliest period” for journalists and media workers since CPJ began collecting data in 1992.
As of Tuesday, CPJ's preliminary investigation found that at least 95 journalists and media workers had been killed since October 7.
In addition to the 95 people confirmed dead, 16 journalists were reported injured, four missing, and 25 arrested. These statistics also do not take into account the number of assaults, threats, cyber-attacks, censorship and familial killings that have occurred.
