Celebrity chef José Andrés criticized Israel for its “indiscriminate killing” after seven of his charity’s employees were killed delivering aid to civilians in Gaza.
“The Israeli government needs to stop this indiscriminate killing. It needs to stop restricting humanitarian aid, stop killing civilians and aid workers, and stop using food as a weapon,” Andrés posted on X, formerly Twitter.
Andrés is the founder of World Central Kitchen (WCK), an aid organization that recently made its second delivery of food to the more than 1 million civilians in Gaza who are dealing with catastrophic hunger, the United Nations said.
WCK workers were leaving a warehouse in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza and driving in a “deconflicted zone” when an Israeli airstrike hit. Andrés said he is heartbroken and grieving for their families and friends.
He said he’s worked with the employees around the world and said they are “not faceless…they are not nameless.”
“No more innocent lives lost. Peace starts with our shared humanity,” he posted. “It needs to start now.”
The first ship carrying 200 tons of food gathered by WCK departed Cyprus on March 12, followed by another shipment with even more food.
Those killed in the strike were from Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom and Palestine, and one was a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada.
President Biden called Andrés to offer his condolences after the workers were killed, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has taken responsibility for the deadly strike. He was just discharged from the hospital following a hernia surgery and acknowledged the “tragic event in which our forces unintentionally harmed non-combatants in the Gaza Strip.”
“This happens in war,” Netanyahu said in his statement, adding that Israel is conducting a “thorough inquiry” and will “do everything to prevent a recurrence.”
U.N. Secretary General António Guterres posted online responding to the deaths saying the strikes were “devastating.”
The seven workers killed brings “the number of aid workers killed in this conflict to 196 – including more than 175 of our own @UN staff,” he said.
“This is unconscionable,” Guterres posted.
More than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war between Israel and Hamas began on Oct. 7 and hundreds of thousands face a famine.
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