Israeli attacks on World Central Kitchen employees are part of a pattern

An Israeli airstrike on Monday killed seven aid workers delivering food to Palestinians on the brink of mass starvation in the Gaza Strip.

The attack – whose victims were almost all foreign nationals and affiliated with World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit run by Spanish-American chef and humanitarian José Andrés – was an international phenomenon. It drew widespread condemnation and highlighted the risks humanitarian workers take every day to provide safety. Inadequate levels of aid to Gaza.

“This is not just an attack on WCK, but on humanitarian organizations in the most dire situations where food is used as a weapon of war,” World Central Kitchen CEO Erin Gore said in a statement. said. “This is unacceptable.”

The victims were wearing bulletproof vests emblazoned with the group's logo and were from Australia, Poland, Britain, Palestine, the United States and Canada. (Israel is admitted the incidentHe announced that it was an accident and expressed his “condolences” to the bereaved family. )

As a result of the attack, World Central Kitchen suspended its operations in Gaza. It threatens one of Gaza's few sources of food aid and highlights the challenges humanitarian workers face as Israel threatens to escalate its attacks with an invasion of southern cities. Rafah continues to block aid deliveries.

According to the Aid Worker Safety Database, 260 aid workers have been killed across Gaza and the West Bank so far last year, and 60 this year.

“The attacks that occurred yesterday were not isolated. Throughout this conflict, we have seen a pattern of attacks on humanitarian operations and facilities, as well as on health workers and facilities,” said the International Rescue Committee's Crisis, Response and Recovery Directorate. said Ciaran Donnelly, senior vice chairman of development.

What we know about this attack

To understand the current impact of the work of World Central Kitchen and other aid organizations, we need to understand what is happening in Gaza. According to projections, by July half of Gaza's population will face completely avoidable famine, i.e. starvation without natural causes. And it's accelerating faster than at the start of this century.

Just a few weeks ago, World Central Kitchen set up a temporary pier to facilitate the delivery of maritime aid while the U.S. government worked to construct a temporary pier in Gaza.

The United Nations delivers about 80% of aid to Gaza, but World Central Kitchen was responsible for more than half of the remaining aid, mainly food, before Monday's attack. As of mid-March, the organization had sent 200 tons of food to Gaza.

The nonprofit organization said it has informed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that it will move through the conflict zone with two armored vehicles and one unarmored vehicle bearing the team's logo.

Nevertheless, Israeli missiles struck the convoy three times after it left a warehouse in Deir Bala, central Gaza, where a UN refugee camp is located and where workers had unloaded more than 100 tons of food aid.

The IDF told Vox: video statement Spokesman Daniel Hagari asked why the convoy was attacked, what evidence there was to support the attack, and what steps should be taken to facilitate the provision of further aid to Gaza now that the World Central Kitchen has stepped back. When asked how it works, he answered:

Hagari said in a statement that the Israel Defense Forces was “reviewing the incident at the highest level” and had met with Andres to express its condolences. “As professional military personnel who abide by international law, we are committed to conducting a thorough and transparent review of operations,” he said. He did not provide details of the decision-making behind the airstrike or deny that he knew the IDF was targeting World Central Kitchen vehicles.

Haaretz News Agency said its sources said the Israel Defense Forces suspected armed Hamas operatives were on board the convoy. But that wasn't the case.

“This was an unintentional attack on innocent civilians,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement to the Times of Israel in Hebrew. “That's what happens in wartime. We are investigating. Masu.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Paris on Tuesday that Biden administration officials had discussed the incident with the Israeli government.

“We have called for a swift, thorough and impartial investigation to understand exactly what happened. And, as we have throughout this conflict, we urge Israelis to , has imprinted an absolute obligation to do more to protect the lives of innocent civilians and to deliver humanitarian assistance more effectively to more people,” he said.

result

In January, the International Court of Justice issued a ruling calling on Israel to step up efforts to facilitate the delivery of aid to Gaza.

These efforts have not visibly materialized.

Some critics have previously raised concerns about World Central Kitchen's approach to employee safety, including sending employees into disaster areas without adequate preparation. . But the strike is emblematic of a larger pattern in Gaza.

In addition to the employees of the world's central kitchens, those killed since the start of the war include five staff members from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), an NGO providing medical care in Gaza, and on duty from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. Includes 14 staff members. Both groups have decades of experience operating in combat zones.

Humanitarian infrastructure, such as hospitals and refugee camps, has been under continuous Israeli shelling since the start of the war. As of March 1, only 12 of Gaza's 36 hospitals were even partially functional, and those that are open continue to suffer from severe shortages of medical supplies. Food infrastructure such as bakeries and flour mills was also destroyed. (According to CNN, the IDF recently withdrew from al-Shifa hospital, claiming it had arrested more than 500 militant suspects while leaving behind hundreds of bodies and a “trace of destruction.”)

Israel also continues to restrict aid, although it insists it does not. Oxfam recently released a report accusing Israel of doing this deliberately, stating that they have to wait an average of 20 days for aid trucks to arrive and that Israel has access to oxygen, incubators, water and sanitation. It was pointed out that the company refused to provide supplies equivalent to warehouses such as

Donnelly, of the International Rescue Committee, said Gaza was “one of the most dangerous spaces we have operated in for many years, but also one of the most restrictive.”

The dire consequences for Gaza's residents are severe.

Johns Hopkins University researchers estimate that without a ceasefire, excess deaths (including disease outbreaks) in Gaza could reach nearly 67,000 by August if the status quo continues, threatening to escalate the conflict. It is predicted that the number could exceed 85,000. And the possibility of escalation in Rafah remains. Israel has agreed to take into account U.S. concerns about invasion, but it is not yet clear whether it will postpone the attack or abandon it altogether.

This has raised suspicions that Israel is intentionally using starvation as a weapon of war, which constitutes a war crime. A senior official in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party called the allegations “complete nonsense” and “irresponsible.” Such allegations of war crimes are difficult to prove and require lengthy litigation. Israel has already filed a lawsuit at the International Court of Justice alleging genocide in Gaza, but the case is not expected to be resolved for years.

But what is clear is that Israel's tactics in Gaza are correlated with a horrific death toll, which now stands at more than 33,000, and that Israel's selective policy in providing aid is effectively starving Palestinians. is. Whether intentional or not, there is no denying that the consequences are disastrous.

Monday's attack will make it even more difficult for aid workers to cope with the deepening disaster. The risk to personnel has already proven too high for the United Arab Emirates, which is reportedly suspending its involvement in the Maritime Aid Corridor to Gaza until Israel can ensure the safety of its personnel. .

“The only way to provide security and assistance to Palestinian civilians, and the only way to provide space for government agencies to operate at the scale necessary given the severity of their needs, is for the fighting to end.” Mr. Donnelly said.