The killing of seven aid workers from International food charity NGO World Central Kitchen in Israeli military airstrikes in central Gaza has been strongly condemned by senior UN humanitarian officials who on Tuesday reiterated repeated concerns that “there is no safe space left in Gaza”.
Jamie McGoldrick, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory repeated appeals to all parties to the conflict, including the Government of Israel, to respect international humanitarian law, which prohibits the targeting of humanitarian personnel.
“The role of aid workers is to alleviate the suffering of people in crisis. Their safety, along with that of the civilians they serve, must be guaranteed,” he said.
World Central Kitchen has suspended its operations in Gaza after seven of its workers were killed in an Israeli air strike Monday.
The IDF said on Tuesday that it is “carrying out an in-depth examination at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of this tragic incident.”
“This is not an isolated incident,” said McGoldrick. “As of 20 March, at least 196 humanitarians had been killed in the OPT since October 2023. This is nearly three times the death toll recorded in any single conflict in a year.”
UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths expressed his outrage at the attack.
World Health Organization spokesperson Dr. Margaret Harris maintained that the NGO mission had been agreed with the Israeli authorities ahead of time and that the organization’s car was “well marked, it was very clear: it was World Central Kitchen”.
Turning to the destruction of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City following a two-week siege by the Israeli military, Dr. Harris said that it had “ripped the heart out of healthcare” in the enclave.
WHO maintained that aid teams had been waiting for “days and days” for Israeli permission to reach the stricken facility, where staff and patients endured “horrific levels of violence”.
“We’ve had contact with the staff; the (hospital) directors told us that 750-bed Al-Shifa Hospital has gone, it’s no longer able to function in any way, shape or form” as a medical center, said Dr. Harris.
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