The next day, the 33-year-old dual American and Canadian citizen was one of seven World Central Kitchen employees killed in an Israeli airstrike on an aid group's convoy.
“He was a good man,” his father said. “He was doing what he loved, and he just wanted to serve and help others.”
Jacob Flickinger was born and spent most of his childhood in the small Quebec city of Saint-Georges, the son of a Canadian mother and an American father.
Flickinger spent nearly 10 years in the Canadian Armed Forces, serving in Afghanistan and serving in Kandahar, his father said.
After retiring from the military in 2019, he met his partner Sandy Leclerc and they had a son. The couple moved to Costa Rica, where Flickinger began building a business as a fitness trainer.
To support his family, he began looking for other opportunities. He first started working at World Central Kitchen last November, when he spent a month in Mexico due to a major hurricane.
When a friend told him about WCK's mobilization in Gaza, he volunteered to help distribute food arriving by sea. The job combines the skills he learned in the military and his desire to help, his father said.
“Women and children are starving to death. It's on the news every day. I felt like I could make a small difference,” said John Flickinger, 67.
Jacob's death appears to be the first American killed by the IDF in the Gaza Strip since the war began on October 7 following Hamas attacks on Israel. Nearly 33,000 people have died in Gaza, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Most of the dead were women and children.
At least 21 Americans serving with the Israel Defense Forces were also killed in Gaza.
John described his son as a loyal friend, someone who from childhood was inclined to protect the weak and stand up to aggressors. John and Jacob's friends have set up a fundraiser to support Jacob's partner and his 18-month-old son.
“I want his story to be told,” John said through tears. In war, “it is the mothers, fathers, sons and daughters who suffer, the survivors of the madness.”
Amanda Coletta in Toronto contributed to this report.
