Workers in chef Jos Andres’ humanitarian food group killed in airstrike in Gaza
Stephanie Breijo April 1, 2024
Multiple members of the international nonprofit World Central Kitchen
were killed inhave died due to
an
apparent
Israeli
Defense Forces
airstrike in Gaza on
Mondaytoday
during efforts to feed thousands facing starvation, according to chef Jos Andrs
, founder of the group
.
though the Los Angeles Times was unable to confirm. Unconfirmed media reports and statements by officials in Gaza said at least
four CONFIRM UPDATED FIGURE?
aid workers were killed in the strike south of Deir Al Balah, a city in central Gaza. Photos and videos circulated on social media showing
Monday afternoon unconfirmed reports of the deaths of World Central Kitchen team members began circulating on social media, many depicting graphic photos and videos of
bodies and passports some bloodied from Poland, the United Kingdom and Australia,
reportedlyallegedly
belonging to the deceased members of the World Central Kitchen team deployed in Gaza.
Andrs could not be reached
by The Times
for comment, nor could the Israel Defense Forces.
Today @WCKitchen [World Central Kitchen] lost several of our sisters and brothers in an IDF air strike in Gaza, Andrs posted to the social media platform X. I am heartbroken and grieving for their families and friends and our whole WCK family. These are people angels I served alongside in Ukraine, Gaza, Turkey, Morocco, Bahamas, Indonesia. They are not faceless they are not nameless.
The Israeli government needs to stop this indiscriminate killing
,” the chef continued.
“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. Peace starts with our shared humanity. It needs to start now.
Andrs had called for a cease-fire via social media on Dec. 10 along with an end of hostilities
, one of the most prominent voices in the global food community to do so.
Andrs’
serves as the founder and figurehead of the
organization
, which
administers free meals, water and other resources to crisis zones around the world in the wake of war and natural disaster. In March, World Central Kitchen collected roughly 200 tons of food and, with the aid of Spanish humanitarian group Open Arms, shipped out to Gaza to deliver the provisions.
The effort marked one of the first in a growing call to administer aid to Palestin
ians
by sea after five months of the Israel-Hamas war; President Biden shared similar but unrelated plans during his State of the Union address, with the U.S. military ordered to build a floating dock to administer aid off the Gaza coast.
World Central Kitchens team of staff and volunteer-based chefs and other on-the-ground helpers has been serving food and water to Palestinians since the fall.
for months.
According to a statement from Andrs and Chief Executive Erin Gore in late March, the organization has served more than 42 million meals in Gaza and called the humanitarian crisis in Gaza the most dire weve ever seen or experienced in our 15 year history.
World Central Kitchen told The Times in an email statement that the organization is aware of Mondays reports, but declined to make representatives available for further comment.
“This is a tragedy. Humanitarian aid workers and civilians should never be a target, ever, the email statement read. We will share more information when we have gathered all the facts.”
Andres’ is currently scheduled to appear at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on April 21.Check back for updates to this story.
