3 apr 2024 om 11:58 Update: 45 min. geleden
Aid organization World Central Kitchen has failed to unload all its aid supplies in the Gaza Strip. The organization suspended its activities in the area on Tuesday due to the deaths of seven employees. At least 240 tons of food aid is being sent back.
World Central Kitchen (WCK) began delivering relief supplies to Gaza by sea last month. The aid organization organized the missions together with the Spanish NGO Open Arms.
The second shipment was shipped from Cyprus last Saturday. There, Israeli soldiers inspect the aid supplies before departure. The seven WCK employees who were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday had recently unloaded part of that cargo.
After their deaths, the aid organization decided to cease its activities in Gaza. As a result, at least 240 tons of aid will be returned to Cyprus. It is unclear whether the sea corridor will continue to exist. Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides says so, but news site Axios reports that the United Arab Emirates will suspend participation.
Biden ‘outraged’ by death of aid workers
Israel confirmed on Tuesday that it was behind the airstrike. Israeli President Isaac Herzog says he has apologized to WCK founder José Andrés, a celebrity chef. Army spokesman Daniel Hagari also did the same earlier in the day.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said such things happen during a war and that it was an accident. “We will do everything we can to ensure this does not happen again,” he said BBC News.
The attack killed three Britons, an Australian, a Pole, a Palestinian and a person of dual American and Canadian nationality. Their deaths led to outraged reactions.
US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday he was “outraged and heartbroken”. “Even more tragic, this is not an isolated incident,” Biden continued. “This is one of the worst conflicts in recent history if you look at the number of aid workers killed.” According to the UN, at least 196 aid workers have died in the Palestinian Territories in the past six months.
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