World Central Kitchen (WCK), a nonprofit organization that works to provide meals in crisis areas, has suspended its operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah due to ongoing airstrikes, the news was reported on social media site X late Tuesday.
“Israeli military operations in Rafah have once again forced countless families to flee,” said the US-based group, founded by Spanish-American celebrity chef José Andrés. “Due to ongoing attacks, we have been forced to suspend operations in our main kitchen in Rafah and relocate many community kitchens further north.”
The group has only just resumed operations in Gaza after a hiatus following three Israeli drone strikes in April that killed seven of its staff members, killing people in Australia, Britain, North America, Palestine and Poland and sparking global outrage over Israel's military operation.
An internal Israeli military investigation found that the drone's crew made an “operational misjudgment” when they misidentified it as a Hamas gunman atop an aid convoy.
The situation in Rafah has deteriorated significantly in recent weeks, with violence escalating following an Israeli military offensive that began on May 7. The operation came after Israeli forces seized the checkpoint between Gaza and Egypt.
Gaza officials reported that Israeli forces set fire to a displaced persons camp in Rafah on Sunday, killing 45 people and wounding dozens. The Israeli army has launched an investigation into the incident but maintains that it is “impossible” that its munitions alone could have caused such a devastating blaze.
Many humanitarian groups say the intensifying attacks on Rafah have made it more difficult to get aid into the Gaza Strip. Rick Pieperkorn, the World Health Organization representative for the Palestinian Territories, said on Tuesday that transporting and distributing medical and other aid supplies in both the south and north of the Gaza Strip remains “extremely challenging.”
sauce:AFP
