Aid groups halt work in Gaza over deadly Israeli strike

Other 4 April, 2024 14:10

World Central Kitchen (WCK) paused its operations in response to the killing of seven of its aid workers in an Israeli air strike, renewing fears that the humanitarian situation in Gaza could deteriorate further.

According to BBC, another US charity it works with, Anera, has also suspended work because of the escalating risks faced by its local staff and their families.

Together, they were serving two million meals a week across the Palestinian territory, where the UN has warned that an estimated 1.1 million people - half the population - are facing catastrophic hunger because of Israeli restrictions on aid deliveries, the ongoing hostilities and the breakdown of order, the report says.

WCK's decision to pause its work also led to the "freezing" of a maritime aid corridor from Cyprus, which the charity helped set up last month to increase the trickle of aid getting into the north of Gaza and avert a looming famine.

The WCK convoy was hit on April 1 as it travelled south along the Israeli-designated coastal aid route, just after they had unloaded more than 100 tonnes of food from a barge at a warehouse in Deir al-Balah. That barge was part of a four-vessel flotilla that sailed back to Cyprus with 240 tonnes of supplies that could not be brought ashore in the wake of the strike, BBC adds.

World Central Kitchen founder Jose Andres told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday that the Israeli attack that killed seven of his food aid workers in Gaza had targeted them "systematically, car by car." Nir Barkat, Israel's minister of economy, told BBC News that Andrés' comments were "nonsense". Israel says the strikes which killed the workers were a "grave mistake"

Three of the killed aid workers were British nationals. A Polish national, an Australian, a Palestinian and a dual US-Canadian citizen were also killed.

At least 196 humanitarian workers have been killed in Gaza since October, according to the United Nations.