World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit organization that provided meals to the Gaza Strip until seven aid workers were killed in an Israeli attack about a month ago, has resumed operations, its CEO said. revealed.
Founded by renowned Spanish-American chef Jose Andres, the US-based charity provides food to communities facing humanitarian crises and disasters.
The Israeli military announced that on the night of April 1, seven employees were killed in three air strikes over four minutes by an Israeli drone as they ran for their lives between three vehicles.
The deaths of one Australian, three British nationals, a North American, a Palestinian and a Polish national have sparked a new level of global anger at Israel's military operation.
“We continue to grieve and mourn the loss of our seven friends and colleagues who died in IDF attacks in Gaza,” Erin Gore, the nonprofit's CEO, said in a statement Sunday. '' said in a statement.
She added that World Central Kitchen is nevertheless “resuming operations in Gaza.”
Gore noted that the organization has 276 trucks, equivalent to about 8 million meals, ready to enter through the Rafah intersection.
“We will continue to move as much food as possible into Gaza, including in northern Gaza, by land, air and sea,” she said.
Gore said WCK will also send trucks from Jordan, adding that WCK is exploring maritime corridors and using the Israeli port of Ashdod.
A large WCK logo was emblazoned on the roof of the three aid workers' vehicles, but retired Gen. Yoav Haeven, who is leading the Israeli investigation, said the drone's camera could not see them in the dark. Ta.
An internal investigation by the Israeli military has found that a drone team made an “operational error” when it spotted suspected Hamas gunmen firing on top of a support truck.
Gore said WCK should either “stop feeding altogether or continue feeding while aid workers, aid workers and civilians are being threatened and killed during one of the worst hunger crises in history.” He said he was forced to make a difficult choice.
WCK has 68 community kitchens in the region and is building a third high-production facility in Mawasi, in addition to two other locations in Rafa and Deli Albala.
The Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel that triggered the war killed about 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an Israeli official tally by AFP.
At least 34,488 people have been killed in Israeli retaliatory attacks in the Gaza Strip, the majority of them women and children, according to the Hamas-controlled region's health ministry.
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