Chef Jose Andres claims Israel targeted aid workers 'car by car' in deadly airstrike, Israel calls 'grave mistake'

world news

by patrick riley

Chef José Andres, founder of World Central Kitchen (WCK), was a member of the Israeli military when Monday's airstrike killed seven aid workers delivering desperately needed food to starving Gazans. accused of targeting aid workers “systematically, vehicle by vehicle”.

Meanwhile, an investigation found that Israeli forces misidentified an aid worker's vehicle as a hostile vehicle, amid international criticism of the deadly bombing and Israel's six-month siege of the enclave. announced.

Three WCK vehicles, including two armored vehicles and a third unarmored vehicle, were targeted in multiple strikes that killed workers and Palestinian drivers from Australia, Canada, Poland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. did.

Andres claimed that the IDF was informed of their movements in advance. The Spanish-American chef rejected Israeli and US claims that the strike was unintentional.

“This wasn't just an unfortunate situation where you just dropped a bomb in the wrong place,” Andres told Reuters.

“It's over 1.5km to 1.8km, it has a very clear humanitarian convoy, it has signs on the top and on the roof, it has a very colorful logo, and it's obviously something that we're very proud of.” he said. “We are very clear about who we are and what we do.”

Aid workers had just unloaded more than 100 tons of food from a warehouse in northern Gaza when they came under missile attack around 11 p.m., Andres said.

“They were targeting us in a deconflict zone in an area controlled by the IDF. They knew that our team was on its way with three vehicles,” he said. Les said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attack was unintentional and the result of war.

“This is what happens in wars. We will check every last detail, communicate with governments and take all measures to ensure this never happens again,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday.

IDF Chief of Staff Helj Halevi on Wednesday called the incident a “grave mistake” and said it “should not have happened.” He said a detailed account of the incident would be released in the coming days, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Andres said he knew something was wrong when World Central Kitchen was unable to contact seven people on the ground.

“Somehow we lost communication,” he told Reuters. “Then we started [to get] Information that something went wrong or something happened. That's when we learned that our team was being targeted.

He said he believed at least three airstrikes targeted WCK teams and drones.

“They attacked the first vehicle…It was an armored vehicle, so I feel like they were able to get away safely,” he said. The person in the first car said, “They were able to move to the second car. Again, this was a hit. They were able to move to the third car.”

“They were systematically targeted car by car,” he added.

After the attack, WCK called the death of its staff a tragedy and said: “Humanitarian aid workers and civilians should never be targeted.” Until now. “

The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit is the largest non-UN agency providing food aid to the Gaza Strip, distributing about 300,000 meals a day, according to the Wall Street Journal. Food deliveries have been suspended since the airstrike.

WCK is working to transport the bodies of six of the deceased workers from Gaza to Egypt, the BBC reported.

Among the dead was 33-year-old American-Canadian Jacob Flickinger. The others have been identified as Lalzaumi (Zomi) Francome, 43, from Australia. Damian Sobol, 35 years old, from Poland. and Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha (25) from Palestine. According to the BBC, Abu Taha was buried in his hometown of Rafah.

President Biden condemned the attack and said Israel was not doing enough to protect civilian aid workers in a conflict that has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians.

“The United States has repeatedly urged Israel to avoid conflict between military and humanitarian operations against Hamas to avoid civilian casualties,” the president said.

with post wire