- Written by André Roden-Paul
- bbc news
World Central Kitchen will resume food distribution in the Gaza Strip, nearly a month after seven aid workers were killed in an Israeli airstrike.
Aid groups said they were preparing 276 trucks carrying 8 million meals to pass through the Rafah crossing.
“Ultimately, we decided we had to keep feeding,” the charity said on Sunday.
The Israel Defense Forces has admitted to “grave mistakes” that led to a deadly strike against workers and dismissed two senior officers over the incident.
“The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire,” WCK CEO Erin Gore said in a statement Sunday.
“We are returning to business with the same energy and dignity and are focused on feeding as many people as possible.”
The charity said it would send trucks from Jordan to use Ashdod, one of Israel's three major cargo ports, and build a third high-production kitchen in Gaza.
Charities continue to call for an impartial and international investigation into the deadly airstrike, which involved the deaths of aid workers, including three British nationals, a Palestinian, an Australian, a Pole and an American-Canadian. said.
“While there are no concrete guarantees, we will continue to demand answers and advocate for change, with the goal of better protecting WCK and all NGO workers who serve selflessly in the worst humanitarian conditions,” Gore said. .
WCK is one of the main providers of much-needed aid to Gaza and says it has provided more than 43 million meals to Gaza since the war began in October.
Gore added that the decision to restart operations was “continuing our mission of feeding people during the most difficult of times, and we have decided that we must continue to provide food.”
On April 1, seven humanitarian aid workers were killed when their cars were destroyed one by one by three missiles in four minutes.
The charity's team had been authorized by the Israeli military to move aid supplies from the coast to a warehouse. The Israel Defense Forces said a series of mistakes and miscommunications led to the suspect being mistaken for a Hamas operative and targeted.
The Israeli military said a “large number of armed gunmen” were in the vicinity of the convoy, but the drone operator mistakenly followed the vehicle carrying aid workers.
The military has apologized, admitting that the soldiers did not follow procedures and were not given critical information about the pre-approved rescue mission.
image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
WCK's announcement came as the Israeli military announced it would increase the amount of aid to Gaza in the coming days to help.
“More food, water, medical supplies, shelter equipment and other aid supplies are flowing into Gaza than ever before,” spokesman Maj. Gen. Daniel Hagari said in a statement.
He added that Israel is working with U.S. Central Command to build a “temporary maritime pier” that will allow logistics to flow from ships to shore.
The United Nations has warned that famine in the Gaza Strip is “almost inevitable” and that children are dying of starvation.
The current war began when Hamas attacked an Israeli community near Gaza, killing about 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and taking about 250 hostages.
Subsequent Israeli airstrikes and ground operations in Gaza have killed 34,454 people, most of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
