A car used by US-based aid group World Central Kitchen was hit by an Israeli strike while delivering food to Gaza. Photo by Getty Images

Chris Skopec April 3, 2024

On Monday, seven humanitarian aid workers from World Central Kitchen were tragically killed by the Israel Defense Forces shortly after they left WCK’s warehouse in Deir al-Balah in northern Gaza. WCK did everything they were supposed to do in order to prevent this kind of tragedy. Their team, made up of primarily international aid workers, was traveling in a deconflicted zone, in cars covered in WCK’s highly recognizable logos, on routes pre-coordinated and approved by the IDF. 

To be murdered by a military who had approved and was aware of their route, while helping to feed starving civilians on the brink of famine, is a devastating fate, especially for individuals who risk their lives to help others.

The tragic deaths of the WCK team members are just the latest example of a deeply disturbing trend of the Israeli military seeming to be targeting aid workers and health facilities throughout Gaza. Their deaths call into question the usefulness of the safety mechanisms put in place to protect humanitarian workers.

I am the executive vice president at Project HOPE, an NGO that is operating primary health clinics and providing mental health support in Gaza. Aid organizations like mine have had no choice but to take a step back and consider the risks that our colleagues face on a day-to-day basis in Gaza. We have chosen to temporarily pause activities in solidarity with WCK, and to reassess the security situation and our plans moving forward to ensure our team’s safety.

For months, our team members have worked around the clock to the backdrop of bombs and drones to provide medical care to communities in Deir al-Balah and Rafah.

This decision to pause operation was not taken lightly, but it is imperative that we prioritize the safety and well-being of our team in Gaza. The humanitarian community operating in Gaza is tight-knit and our team has been deeply affected by this attack.

The seven WCK aid workers are far from the only humanitarian aid workers who have died during Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza. In less than six months, around 200 humanitarian aid workers, nearly 100 journalists, and over 20,000 women and children have been killed in the 18 square miles that make up the Gaza Strip.

These numbers are not only deeply disturbing but demonstrate a violation of international humanitarian law. Aid workers are protected by international law enshrined in the Geneva Convention, and should never be targeted.

The attack on WCK team members will alter the way humanitarian organizations operate in Gaza. These senseless acts call into question the “deconfliction” mechanisms unique to this war that have been put in place to safeguard aid workers, such as clearly marking vehicles carrying aid shipments and personnel, as well as sharing the coordinates of aid operations with the IDF.

These are critical tools we have been relying on to keep our staff and operations safe in Gaza, and with this attack, they have proven to be gravely unreliable. Before continuing to provide essential healthcare in Gaza, we must assess, for the safety of our team, whether this marks a change in how aid operations are viewed by the IDF, and to what extent we can rely on them.

The heartbreaking reality of making decisions like these is that it is never the perpetrator who pays the price. It’s the families of our brave aid workers who are mourning the lives of their loved ones — people they will never see or speak to again. And it’s the innocent civilians throughout Gaza, who are suddenly cut off from the trickle of aid that was already not enough to go around.

As millions face starvation, forced displacement, ongoing airstrikes and a possible ground invasion, organizations like ours face impossible choices trying to deliver lifesaving aid while protecting and caring for our staff.

For the last six months, people in Gaza have been living in a nightmare. A colleague in Rafah told me this week that “death feels inevitable here.” People are living in a constant state of fear with limited access to food, clean water, hygiene and health care. Entire families are displaced, living in overcrowded tents, sharing one bathroom with hundreds of other people.

Palestinians in Gaza are growing hungrier by the day. Project HOPE’s clinic in Deir al Balah found that over 1 in 4 pregnant women visiting the clinic showed signs of malnutrition last month.

People in Gaza need the support of humanitarian organizations now more than ever before. But humanitarian organizations need assurances and accountability to ensure that this tragedy will never happen again. Given the United States’ long and faithful support for Israel, our administration has a particular responsibility to not only condemn these atrocities, but to hold the Israeli government responsible. An independent investigation is the only way to guarantee impartiality.

If organizations like ours are to continue delivering lifesaving humanitarian aid, we need unhindered access and guaranteed protections for our colleagues on the ground responding to this horrifying crisis. 

We are committed to continuing our lifesaving work in Gaza, but we need to know that our colleagues won’t be targets. 

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