What is World Central Kitchen? Israeli airstrike kills seven aid workers, group says

Seven humanitarian aid workers with World Central Kitchen (WCK), an international nonprofit, were killed by the Israeli military in Gaza, according to the organization.

The workers were traveling in a “deconflicted zone” when their vehicles were hit by an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) airstrike, according to an April 2 statement from WCK. They had been in the process of unloading food aid for Gazans.

The “targeted attack” occurred despite the fact that WCK had coordinated its transportation with the IDF, according to the statement.

“This is not only an attack against WCK, this is an attack on humanitarian organizations showing up in the most dire of situations where food is being used as a weapon of war,” CEO Erin Gore said, adding, “This is unforgivable.”

The seven individuals killed were citizens of the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia, Poland and Palestine, the organization said.

An IDF spokesperson expressed his “deepest condolences” for the attack and said the Israeli military was opening an investigation into the incident.

What is World Central Kitchen?

The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit was founded in 2010 by chef José Andrés in response to an earthquake in Haiti.

Andrés, a Spanish restaurateur who immigrated to the U.S., traveled to Haiti to cook and provide food for people affected by the crisis.

In the years after it was founded, WCK established cooking programs in Central America and the Caribbean, according to the organization’s website.

Eventually, it began operating worldwide, delivering food aid to communities impacted by humanitarian crises and natural disasters.

To date, it has provided around 350 million meals to people in dozens of countries, according to its website.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the organization began delivering meals to displaced Ukrainians. And in 2023, after devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, WCK staff distributed meals to survivors.

For his work with WCK, Andrés won the James Beard Foundation Award for Humanitarian of the Year in 2018.

In response to the death of the seven WCK workers in Gaza, Andrés wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “These are people … angels … I served alongside in Ukraine, Gaza, Turkey, Morocco, Bahamas, Indonesia.”

“The Israeli government needs to stop this indiscriminate killing,” he added. “It needs to stop restricting humanitarian aid, stop killing civilians and aid workers, and stop using food as a weapon. No more innocent lives lost.”

When reached by McClatchy News, a WCK spokesperson declined to provide further comment.

The attack comes as Israel’s war in Gaza enters its seventh month. As a result of the conflict, more than 30,000 Palestinians, most of whom are women and children, have been killed in Gaza, and many more are on the brink of starvation, according to the United Nations.

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