AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana A man shows his bloodstained British, Polish and Australian passports after an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip on Monday, April 1.
An Israeli airstrike that killed seven aid workers in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday reverberated around the world, with the charity World Central Kitchen's friends mourning the deaths of those delivering food to besieged Palestinians. His family and friends mourned.
Those killed included three British nationals, an Australian, a Pole, a dual American and Canadian citizen, and a Palestinian. Some traveled around the world, participating in relief efforts in the aftermath of wars, earthquakes, and wildfires.
Not all workers have been identified. Here are some of the people whose names were mentioned.
Saif Issam Abu Taha
Taha, 27, was identified by relatives and hospital staff as the slain Palestinian aid worker.
His younger brother, Ahmed Abu Taha, admitted that he had been working as a driver at World Central Kitchen since the beginning of this year.
“He was a dedicated young man,” his brother said.
Another brother told The New York Times that Taha was an enterprising man who spoke fluent English and worked in his father's business.
When he last saw his brother, he and the others were so excited to unload much-needed food, he told the newspaper, “It was like going to a wedding.”
Lalzaumi “Zomi” Francome
Friends and family remembered Ms. Francome, 43, as a brave and selfless woman whose concern for others spread throughout the world. For the past five years, she has worked at the Washington-based World Central Kitchen, which has taken her to the United States, Thailand, and her native Australia.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: “This is a wonderful Australian who has a proven track record of helping his fellow countrymen, whether internationally or through the support he gave during the Black Summer bushfires. I mourn,” he said. “She was clearly someone who cared about her fellow countrymen.”
Relatives said in a statement that Francome was an “excellent human being” who was “killed while on the job delivering food to the people of Gaza he loved.”
She was born in Melbourne and completed her undergraduate degree at Swinburne University of Technology. For her eight years she worked at Australia's largest bank, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
Francome's social media highlighted visits to help people in need in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Romania and Haiti.
World Central Kitchen colleague Dora Weekly, who met with Francom in the Bahamas in 2019 as he responded to Hurricane Dorian, described him as “larger than life.”
She recalled the time Francome was invited to walk the red carpet in Hollywood for an Emmy-nominated documentary about World Central Kitchen.
“I remember taking a picture of her in the dress and saying, 'Hold this forever,'” Weekley told ABC. “Because she usually wears sweats and runners and she's in Pakistan or Afghanistan and she doesn't have her hair done or her makeup done anywhere.”
“She worked many hours, gave her all, and believed in helping those less fortunate.”
Damien Sobol
Sobol, 36, was known as a cheerful, friendly and resourceful manager who quickly rose through the ranks at World Central Kitchen.
Sobol, who is from Przemysl, a city in southeastern Poland where she studied hospitality, has spent the past six months providing relief work in Ukraine, Morocco, Turkey and Gaza.
“He was truly an extraordinary man,” said Marta Wilczynska of the Free Place Foundation, which works with World Central Kitchen. “We were so proud of him.”
Wilczynska met with Sobol on the Polish side of the border with Ukraine days after Russia's invasion in February 2022. He spoke good English, could translate, and was a capable manager who could organize work in any situation, she said.
“Always smiling, always kind, he loved this job. I felt like he had a brother,” Wilczynska said.
Mikolaj Rykowski, president of the Free Place Foundation, said Sobol was “a man capable of any task and was able to overcome all difficulties.”
“There are no words to describe how those who knew this wonderful young man are feeling right now,” Przemysl Mayor Wojciech Bakun said in a Facebook post about Sobol's death.
