NEW YORK (AP) – Several humanitarian organizations suspended operations in Gaza on Tuesday after an Israeli airstrike killed seven World Central Kitchen staff.
Nonprofits, including World Central Kitchen, said they need to determine whether their employees can safely provide assistance in the community. More than 200 humanitarian aid workers have been killed since the war began in October, according to the United Nations.
“We are horrified and saddened by the tragic killing of seven innocent humanitarian workers in Gaza,” said the group, which operates clinics in Rafah and Deir al-Balah and is providing medical supplies. said Chris Skopek, executive vice president of global health for Project Hope, which is providing support and other assistance. Go to a local hospital.
The group said the three World Central Kitchen vehicles were hit after loading food from a nearby warehouse, were clearly marked and their movements were known to the Israeli military.
Skopek said such measures are used by humanitarian workers to try to ensure safety in dangerous areas. He said there was growing concern among aid workers in the region that the World Central Kitchen convoy was still under military shelling.
“There needs to be accountability,” Skopek said. “The Israeli government needs to be able to ensure that aid operations are viewed as legitimate actors in the Gaza Strip and that international law is respected. You need to be able to do it.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged that his country's military had carried out an “unintentional attack on innocent people.” He said authorities were investigating the strike and would work to prevent it from happening again.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said at a briefing Tuesday that the United States is concerned that the incident could have a chilling effect on other groups conducting aid operations in the territory.
Anera, a partner of World Central Kitchen and Project Hope, which provides humanitarian aid in the Middle East, also announced on Tuesday that it would take the “unprecedented step” of suspending humanitarian operations in Gaza. Since the war began, Anera's team has served an average of 150,000 meals each day in Gaza.
The International Medical Corps, which has one of the largest field hospitals in Rafah with 140 beds, said it was “rethinking its processes”, including plans to establish another field hospital in Deri Alvara.
“This is devastating,” said Dr. Zawar Ali, who runs the Rafah field hospital and is working to establish a new hospital. “This is really a huge blow to morale. So it puts us in a very uncertain position in terms of coordinating with different stakeholders on security.”
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Associated Press writer Salah El Deeb in Beirut contributed to this report.
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