WCK Pauses Gaza Operations after Israeli Airstrike Kills Aid Workers

An Israeli airstrike killed aid workers in Gaza. (Photo: video grab)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

In April the WCK also paused its operations in Gaza after seven of its workers were killed in Israeli airstrikes on its vehicles.

Aid organization, World Central Kitchen (WCK), has ceased operations in the besieged Gaza Strip after a vehicle was targeted in an Israeli airstrike, killing five Palestinians, including three of its employees.

“We are heartbroken to share that a vehicle carrying World Central Kitchen colleagues was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. At this time, we are working with incomplete information and are urgently seeking more details,” the organization said in a statement on Saturday.

The Israeli military claimed one of the vehicle’s occupants had been involved in the October 7 Resistance operation, and “was struck following reliable information about his location in real-time,” The Times of Israel reported, adding that it was “a civilian unmarked vehicle.”

WCK said it has “no knowledge that any individual in the vehicle had alleged ties” to the events of October 7 last year.

“World Central Kitchen is pausing operations in Gaza at this time,” the organization said.

April Attack

According to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA five Palestinians were killed, including three employees of WCK, when the Israeli army bombed a civilian vehicle on Salahudin Street in the al-Satar al-Sharqi area northeast of Khan Yunis on Saturday.

In April the WCK also paused its operations in Gaza after seven of its workers were killed in Israeli airstrikes on one of its convoys.

The aid workers, from Australia, Poland, United Kingdom, a dual citizen of the US and Canada, and Palestine, were killed in consecutive airstrikes that targeted the WCK-branded vehicles they were traveling in.

The WCK at the time said the killings were “unforgivable,” saying it was “not only an attack against WCK, this is an attack on humanitarian organizations showing up in the most dire of situations where food is being used as a weapon of war.”

Four Massacres in 24 Hours

Saturday’s attack occurred as Israeli forces committed four massacres in the past 24 hours, with numerous victims still trapped under rubble and in the streets, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Citing medical sources, Al-Jazeera reported that 51 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza in the early hours of Saturday.

New Flour Massacre, Aid Workers Killed by Israel – Gaza Death Toll Rises

The Palestinian Information Center reported seven deaths following an Israeli bombing of a vehicle as well as a group of civilians collecting flour in the Qizan Al-Najjar area, south of Khan Yunis.

Ongoing Genocide

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.

Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 44,382 Palestinians have, to date, been killed, and 105,142 wounded.

Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.

Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.

Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.

The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.

Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.

(The Palestine Chronicle)

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