Gaza situation dire: World Central Kitchen to resume aid month after workers’ death in Israel strike

As the “humanitarian situation remains dire,” World Central Kitchen has decided to resume distributing food in Gaza, nearly a month after seven of its aid workers were killed in an Israeli strike.

The World Central Kitchen (WCK), a food charity founded by celebrity chef José Andrés, said, it has “ultimately decided to keep feeding” and it has 276 trucks with eight million meals ready to enter through the Rafah crossing.

WCK said the trucks carrying aid will be sent into Gaza from Jordan.

Why World Central Kitchen is resuming operations in Gaza?

Erin Gore, The charity’s chief executive officer, said, “The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire.”

“We are restarting our operation with the same energy, dignity, and focus on feeding as many people as possible,” he said.

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‘We must keep feeding’

Gore further said, “We have been forced to make a decision: Stop feeding altogether during one of the worst hunger crises ever…Or keep feeding knowing that aid, aid workers and civilians are being intimidated and killed.”

“These are the hardest conversations, and we have considered all perspectives when deliberating. Ultimately, we decided we must keep feeding, continuing our mission of showing up to provide food to people during the toughest of times,” he added.

Why did World Central Kitchen stop operations in Gaza?

WCK is one of the main suppliers of much-needed aid to Gaza. It is said to have supplied more than 43 million meals in Gaza since the war started in October.

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After the airstrikes on April 1, in which seven of the aid workers were killed in the space of four minutes when three missiles destroyed their cars one by one as they engaged in humanitarian work, it had decided to suspend the work.

The decision had sparked fears that a crucial lifeline would be cut.

Of the seven aid workers, three were British citizens while others were from Australia, Poland, a US-Canada dual citizen and one was said to be a Palestinian.

As per WCK, the aid convoy made up of three vehicles of which two were armoured, was hit while leaving the Deir al-Balah warehouse, “where the team had unloaded more than 100 tons of humanitarian food aid brought to Gaza on the maritime route.”

The aid convoy was attacked by three guided missiles shot by the Israel Defense Forces. During the IDF investigation, IDF it was found that the officer in charge ordered the strike because he suspected an armed Hamas operative was in tow, which turned out to be false.

Since the attack, Israel has been working to convince WCK to return to Gaza.

With inputs from agencies