By Worthy News’ George Whitten and Stefan J. Bos
JERUSALEM/GAZA CITY (Worthy News) – Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted Tuesday that his nation’s military carried out an “unintended strike” on “innocent people in the Gaza Strip” that reportedly killed seven international aid workers.
The strike that killed staff of the United States-based World Central Kitchen (WCK) led the charity to suspend delivery Tuesday of food aid to Gaza.
Netanyahu said officials were “checking” the overnight tragedy “thoroughly” and “will do everything for this not to happen again.”
Soon after, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief Spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, expressed his sorrow over “the tragic death” of WCK personnel.
“Last night, an incident took place in Gaza that resulted in the tragic death of World Central Kitchen employees as they fulfilled their vital mission of bringing food to people in need,” Hagari stressed in English-language remarks.
The dead were from “Palestine, Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom” and also included a US-Canada citizen, WCK confirmed.
Hagari said he “just spoke to WCK Founder, Chef Jose Anders, and expressed the deepest condolences of the Israel Defense Forces to the families and the entire World Central Kitchen family.”
INTERNATIONAL LAW
He pledged that “a professional military committed to international law, we are committed to examining our operations thoroughly and transparently.”
Though an Israeli investigation was still ongoing, the WCK already claimed that its staff members were killed in a “targeted attack” by the Israeli military.
The WCK team was traveling in a deconflicted zone in two armored cars branded with the WCK logo and a soft-skin vehicle,” the charity explained in a statement.
“Despite coordinating movements with the [Israeli army], the convoy was hit as it was 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.”
Erin Gore, the CEO of the charity, said, “This is not only an attack against WCK, but this is also an attack on humanitarian organizations showing up in the most dire of situations where food is being used as a weapon of war. This is unforgivable.”
The WCK said the strike came as its staff delivered food from its latest shipment to Gaza, where critics say “hundreds of thousands of Palestinians” have been “pushed to the brink of famine” by Israel’s offensive.
Israel has blamed “Hamas terrorists” and their allies for food shortages, saying these groups are often taking away aid or selling it for prohibitive high prices at markets
AFTERMATH UNFOLDING
Yet, as the aftermath of the overnight tragedy unfolded, there was growing world pressure on Israel with footage showing the bodies of those killed at a hospital in the central town of Deir el-Balah. Several of them appeared to wear protective gear with the charity’s logo.
The bodies of the aid workers were taken to a hospital in the southern city of Rafah on the Egyptian border. The foreigners’ bodies will be evacuated out of Gaza, and the Palestinian driver’s body will be handed to his family in Rafah for burial, according to officials familiar with the situation.
As more bloody details emerged, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed Tuesday the death of an Australian aid worker, Lalzawmi “Zomi” Frankcom, saying his government expects “full accountability.”
“This is a human tragedy that should never have occurred. That is completely unacceptable,” Albanese told media.
Albanese said humanitarian workers and all innocent civilians “need to be provided with protection.”
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski asked Israel’s ambassador to Poland for an urgent explanation. Sikorski also expressed condolences to the family of the Polish worker killed and to all civilian victims in the Gaza Strip.
In Washington D.C., White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said the United States is “heartbroken and deeply troubled” by the deadly strike.
AID IMPACTED
“Humanitarian aid workers must be protected as they deliver aid that is desperately needed, and we urge Israel to investigate what happened swiftly,” Watson said on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Tuesday his country’s government was working to verify the reported deaths of British nationals in the strike.
“These were people who were working to deliver life-saving aid to those who desperately need it,” Cameron stated. “It is essential that humanitarian workers are protected and able to carry out their work.”
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell condemned the attack and called for an investigation. “Despite all the demands to protect civilians and humanitarian workers, we see new innocent casualties,” Borrell added.
Israel’s leadership has blamed Hamas for the human suffering, saying it was forced to launch a campaign to eliminate “Hamas terrorists” after their October 7 attack on Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken as hostages.
Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza has killed more than 32,900 people, two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. The Israeli military has questioned those numbers and says more than one-third of those mentioned as killed were “Hamas terrorists” and their allies.
Yet the overnight Israeli strike on the WCK group was seen by several aid groups as marking a significant setback to efforts to deliver relief by sea, a route that has been developed due to Israeli operations in Gaza.
Cyprus, which has played a vital role in establishing a sea route to bring food to the territory, said ships that recently arrived were turning back — with some 240 tons of undelivered aid.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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