World Central Kitchen pauses operations in Gaza after team members killed

GAZA: World Central Kitchen (WCK), an international food charity, has decided to suspend its operations in Gaza after seven of its workers were killed in an Israeli air strike.

“World Central Kitchen is devastated to confirm seven members of our team have been killed in an IDF strike in Gaza,” read the statement issued by WCK.

“The WCK team was travelling in a deconflicted zone in two armored cars branded with the WCK logo and a soft skin vehicle,” it added.

Despite coordinating movements with the IDF, 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.

“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. This is unforgivable,” said World Central Kitchen CEO Erin Gore.

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The seven killed are from Australia, Poland, United Kingdom, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada, and Palestine.