World Central Kitchen – What is the nonprofit organization attacked in Gaza?

The murder of seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) members in Gaza has brought into stark relief the often dangerous work that food charities carry out around the world.

For 14 years, the nonprofit organization founded by chef Jose Andrés has provided millions of meals to places devastated by natural disasters and violent conflict.

Since October, it has been delivering food to civilians in the Israeli-Hamas war.

After the airstrike on the relief convoy, the country suspended its operations, raising fears that a vital lifeline could be severed.

The dead were traveling from a warehouse in central Gaza when their convoy was hit by an Israeli military plane. They represent the organization's international reach and come from as far away as Australia.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) acknowledged the airstrike and said it would investigate.

This group is no stranger to conflict. It has also been active in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began, and has lost seven people there as well.

WCK has been active in Gaza as well as Israel and Lebanon since fighting broke out in early October last year.

By March 29, the organization had sent more than 1,700 trucks loaded with food and cooking equipment from Egypt to the Rafah border, working in 68 'community kitchens'.

In addition, 230,000 meals were delivered by land and air from Jordan, and 435,000 meals were sent by sea.

It recently announced that two more ships are ready to load 1.2 million meals and send them to northern Gaza.

Mick Mulroy, a former assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, said the WCK risk in Gaza was “same or greater” than in other conflict zones, largely due to the “condensed” nature of the combat zone. .

“An investigation is needed to determine why a clearly marked vehicle with coordinated movements was attacked in broad daylight by what appears to be a precision weapon,” he said. “That shouldn't happen.”

The announcement that WCK and another charity, American Near East Refugee Aid, had ceased operations immediately raised concerns that aid to Gaza would be cut off. The UAE, WCK's main financier in Gaza, has also suspended its support route to Gaza.

“Children are dying of hunger,” Juliet Touma, director of communications for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), told the BBC. “Organizations that provide support to the people of Gaza are key.”

“Any disruption will have a serious impact on people who are already experiencing a lot of hardship.”

Dr Mona Jebril, a Palestinian researcher at the University of Cambridge who has lived in Gaza for more than 22 years, said the impact of the airstrikes was “not just devastating”.

“We're basically talking about a population that has been declared 100% on the brink of starvation,” she says. “Residents are being left to die…This is extremely dangerous.”

There are two main reasons why the WCK played such an important role in Gaza. One is the ability to distribute food and the other is the issue with UNRWA.

Although a large part of Gaza's population has been dependent on humanitarian aid for decades, WCK has rapidly risen to prominence primarily as a result of the opening of maritime corridors and distribution networks.

Meanwhile, UNRWA, the largest UN agency operating in Gaza, has been embroiled in a diplomatic storm that has hampered its operations.

Israel has accused some of its personnel of taking part in the October 7 attack and claims there was a Hamas tunnel beneath the local headquarters. The United States and 15 other countries announced they would suspend funding to UNRWA pending investigations, but Sweden and Canada recently resumed payments.

WCK is “helping fill the void” left by UNRWA, said Khaled Elgindi, director of the program on Palestine and Palestinian-Israeli issues at the Washington, D.C.-based Middle East Institute.

“At the moment there is no real alternative to UNRWA,” Elgindi told the BBC. “But World Central Kitchen has become even more conspicuous by its absence.”

“Right now, there's literally almost no one distributing the little aid that's actually coming in,” he added.

Mr Andres, originally from Spain, moved to New York at the age of 21 and later recalled coming to New York with $50 (£40) in his pocket. Less than two years later, he moved to Washington, D.C., and quickly rose through the ranks in the city's burgeoning culinary scene.

Since then, he's opened nearly 40 restaurants, become a best-selling author, TV host, and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019.

Mr. Andres is best known internationally for his work with WCK, which he founded in 2010 in response to the devastating Haiti earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people.

“And I said, 'Let me go learn, not help,'” he said. “And slowly, I began to learn that it didn’t take much more than just the will to make it happen.”

To date, WCK has served more than 350 million meals in partnership with on-the-ground groups and networks of local restaurants, food trucks, and emergency kitchens.

WCK has provided disaster relief in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

Puerto Rico, for example, immediately began distributing food in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017. In 2023, the company's team worked within hours of a magnitude 6.8 earthquake that hit Morocco, and ultimately he delivered 2.1 million meals.

But perhaps the most notable development has been in Ukraine, where the group has provided more than 260 million meals since Russia invaded in February 2022.

According to WCK, six members were killed in two Russian missile attacks on community centers in 2022 and 2023, and another volunteer was also killed in an attack on his apartment.