A man displays blood-stained British, Polish, and Australian passports. [Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo]
In the wake of the attack on the World Central Kitchen convoy, which killed seven aid workers, the Green Party have repeated their call for the UK government to cancel all arms export licences to Israel. The Party’s Global Solidarity spokesperson and former Middle East diplomat, Carne Ross, said
“The death of compassionate humanitarian volunteers was an outrageous and avoidable tragedy. The cynical attempts by the Netanyahu government to portray the attack on World Central Kitchen (WCK) as an accident have been dismissed by those agencies trying to feed the starving in Gaza. Under international humanitarian law, this humanitarian aid is the responsibility of the Israeli government, yet they are keeping routes closed and not ensuring that those emergency routes operated by aid agencies are safe.
“It is clear that the Israeli government is violating the terms of the licences under which arms are exported and is failing to abide by basic international humanitarian law. It is a national shame that we are arming the Israel defence forces who are responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians. It appears that the deadly Israeli strike on the aid workers used a drone produced in the UK. This only strengthens the case for an immediate arms embargo.
“It is hugely disappointing, but sadly predictable, to hear calls to end arms exports coming only after Western lives have been lost. It comes too late for the thousands of Palestinian children slaughtered by western supplied bombs and bullets.
“Foreign Secretary Cameron can show global leadership during his talks with NATO leaders today by first ending UK arms sales and then persuading other NATO countries to follow suit. We cannot allow the humanitarian calamity in Gaza to continue a day longer.”
Relatives and friends mourn Saif Abu Taha, a staff member of the U.S.-based aid group World Central Kitchen who was killed by an Israeli airstrike on April 2, 2024. (Photo: Said Khatib/AFP via Getty Images)
“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,” said the aid group’s CEO.
World Central Kitchen said Tuesday that a targeted Israeli airstrike killed seven members of its aid team in Gaza as they left a warehouse in the city of Deir al-Balah, where they had just unloaded more than 100 tons of food set to be distributed to starving Palestinians.
The Washington, D.C.-based aid organization said the seven killed included a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada as well as Australian, Polish, and British nationals and one Palestinian staffer later identified as Saif Abu Taha.
“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,” Erin Gore, the group’s CEO, said in a statement. “This is unforgivable.”
WCK said its convoy of vehicles—including two armored cars branded with the group’s logo—was hit by an Israeli strike while traveling in what was supposed to be a deconflicted zone. The group said it coordinated the convoy’s movements with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), leading WCK to conclude that the attack was not an accident.
“I am heartbroken and appalled that we—World Central Kitchen and the world—lost beautiful lives today because of a targeted attack by the IDF,” Gore said Tuesday. “The love they had for feeding people, the determination they embodied to show that humanity rises above all, and the impact they made in countless lives will forever be remembered and cherished.”
Photographs and video footage from the scene and its aftermath show utter carnage. Rescue teams that arrived at the scene and removed the WCK staffers’ bodies from the wreckage displayed the passports of those killed, identifying Zomi Frankcom of Australia, Damian Sobol of Poland, and other victims of the Israeli strike.
(Photo: Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The IDF pledged to carry out “an in-depth examination at the highest levels”—a promise that, given the Israeli military’s record, is likely to prove empty.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that the strike “unintentionally hit innocent people,” but Haaretz reported that the attack “was launched because of suspicion that a terrorist was traveling with the convoy”—an indication that the strike itself, targeting vehicles carrying aid workers, was intentional.
The Israeli military has repeatedly attacked aid workers with impunity in recent months, killing staffers of United Nations agencies, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent, Doctors Without Borders, and other organizations.
WCK is known for coordinating emergency food relief in disaster zones around the world. The group has collected and delivered hundreds of tons of food to Gaza in recent weeks as famine has spread across the enclave due to the Israeli government’s blockade.
Following the deadly attack on its staffers, WCK said it would pause its operations in the region immediately.
“We will be making decisions about the future of our work soon,” the group said in a statement.
Footage from March 26 by World Central Kitchen (WCK) shows aid workers discussing food preparation for Palestinian families in Deir al-Balah. They are believed to be among five aid workers killed in Sunday's Israeli air strikes in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/KEGadIDuQo
Celebrity chef José Andrés, the group’s founder, wrote in a social media post late Monday that he is “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,” he wrote. “They are not faceless…they are not nameless. The Israeli government needs to stop this indiscriminate killing. 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.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who has been accused of abetting genocide in Gaza, confirmed that Australian citizen Zomi Frankcom was among those killed by the Israeli strike and demanded “full accountability.”
“This is a tragedy that should never have occurred,” Albanese told reporters, saying he had summoned the Israeli ambassador to Australia.
Adrienne Watson, a spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council, said the Biden White House is “heartbroken and deeply troubled by the strike.”
“Humanitarian aid workers must be protected as they deliver aid that is desperately needed, and we urge Israel to swiftly investigate what happened,” she added.
Palestinians walk among the damaged buildings near the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Gaza on April 1, 2024. (Photo: Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“This is part of the genocidal machine,” said one surgeon who volunteered at the hospital. “The genocide can only take place if the health system is destroyed.”
The Israeli military withdrew from Gaza’s largest medical facility on Monday after a deadly two-week assault that left the only partially functioning hospital complex in famine-stricken northern Gaza in total ruins.
Israel’s military, which a United Nations expert has accused of waging an “unrelenting war” on Gaza’s healthcare system, claimed in a statement that it killed 200 “terrorists” inside and around the facility and arrested more than 500 people “associated with terrorist organizations” during its prolonged raid on al-Shifa.
The military did not provide evidence that those killed were militants; Israel has repeatedly been accused of labeling unarmed civilians “terrorists.”
According to eyewitness accounts of the raid, Israeli soldiers abused and executed civilians inside the al-Shifa complex, including more than a dozen children. The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said last week that its field team “received identical testimonies about the killings and executions of Palestinian children between the ages of four and 16” in and around the hospital.
Photographs taken in the aftermath of Israel’s assault show al-Shifa buildings scorched, riddled with bullet holes, and reduced to rubble. The hospital’s emergency, surgical, and obstetrics wards were reportedly devastated by Israeli forces, and an unknown number of bodies are believed to be trapped under building ruins.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Sunday that Israel’s siege of the hospital killed at least 21 patients and left dozens of critically ill or wounded Gazans without “necessary means of care—no diapers, urine bags, water to clean wounds.”
Al-Shifa hospital in #Gaza this morning, following the end of the latest Israeli siege.
I repeat: hospitals must be respected and protected; they must not be used as battlefields. pic.twitter.com/gcABzSxrqx
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) April 1, 2024
Hossam Shabat, a Palestinian journalist reporting from northern Gaza, said he witnessed “hundreds of bodies” outside of the hospital when he visited the compound on Monday.
“The bodies were in horrific conditions; many had their hands and legs tied behind their backs and were flattened by a bulldozer,” Shabat wrote on social media. “Many of the bodies were burned and left to be crushed to pieces. Several bodies were decomposed and partly eaten by stray dogs. Most of the bodies were unrecognizable; families could only identify them by their clothes.”
“Al-Shifa Hospital was considered the largest medical complex in the Gaza Strip, catering to many complex cases,” Shabat added. “It has been completely destroyed; they burned it down and destroyed all medical equipment. Israeli occupation forces [have] one goal and it’s to destroy every inch of Gaza.”
Al Shifa, Gaza's biggest hospital, a place of hope and healing. Turned to a burned out husk by Israel's marauding army.
There must be accountability for this crime. A shame on every politician who has failed to oppose this. pic.twitter.com/9caozTiCZH
Ghassan Abu Sitta, a surgeon who volunteered at al-Shifa, told Democracy Now! in an interview on Monday that prior to Israel’s assault on the hospital, al-Shifa “was 30% of the capacity of the health system in Gaza.” Israel raided the facility for the first time in November, and its latest attack began on March 18.
“The destruction of Shifa, the wanton destruction of Shifa, is a critical component of Israel’s plan to genocidally make sure that Gaza becomes an uninhabitable place, even after a cease-fire happens,” said Abu Sitta. “By destroying Shifa and making sure it is irreparable, the Israelis are trying to make sure that for years to come, Gaza does not have a functioning health system.”
Abu Sitta went on to criticize Western journalists for helping Israel perpetuate the narrative that al-Shifa was used by Hamas as a “command center” and thus an “acceptable” target.
“This is part of the genocidal machine,” said Abu Sitta. “The genocide can only take place if the health system is destroyed.”
Israeli troops have left Al-Shifa, Gaza's largest hospital, after a brutal two-week raid that left much of the complex in ruins and killed many civilians and medical staff there. “This is part of the genocidal machine," says Dr. @GhassanAbuSitt1, who has volunteered at Al-Shifa. pic.twitter.com/hwY6Gv4po1
Reuters described al-Shifa in the aftermath of the Israeli military’s two-week raid as a “wasteland of destroyed buildings” with “Palestinian bodies scattered in the dirt.”
Ismail al-Thawabta, director of Gaza’s media office, said in a statement Monday that Israeli forces “destroyed and burnt all buildings inside al-Shifa medical complex.”
“They bulldozed the courtyards, burying dozens of bodies of martyrs in the rubble, turning the place into a mass graveyard,” said al-Thawabta. “This is a crime against humanity.”
Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh works in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on December 12, 2023. (Photo by Mahmud HAMS / AFP) (Photo: Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images)
“After murdering multiple Al Jazeera journalists, Israel is now moving to expel the news organization entirely,” said one advocacy group.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged Monday to “immediately” move to ban Al Jazeera from broadcasting from Israel after the Knesset approved legislation that gives the country’s government the power to shut down the operations of foreign media outlets deemed a threat to national security.
In a social media post, Netanyahu called the Qatari-owned network a “terrorist channel” and said he would use the new law to halt its activities in Israel.
“I welcome the law promoted by Communications Minister Shlomo Karai with the support of coalition members led by coalition chairman Ofir Katz,” wrote Netanyahu.
Under the new law, the Israeli communications minister can ban foreign outlets with the prime minister’s permission. The measure, which also gives Israeli authorities the power to confiscate a foreign media outlet’s equipment, passed the Knesset in an overwhelming 71 to 10 vote.
The law’s passage comes days after Al Jazeera broadcast video footage of Israeli soldiers gunning down two unarmed Palestinians in northern Gaza, one of whom was waving a piece of white fabric in a gesture of surrender. The footage showed Israeli bulldozers subsequently burying the two bodies under the sand of the beach where the killings took place.
“Israel continues to act as a rogue, authoritarian state with total impunity.”
Al Jazeera has a bureau in Jerusalem and offices in the West Bank and Gaza, and it has covered Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip closely and critically, regularly reporting and broadcasting footage and eyewitness accounts of Israeli atrocities. Al Jazeera is one of the few international media outlets to broadcast live from Gaza during Israel’s latest war on the Palestinian enclave.
The outlet’s correspondents have been among the dozens of journalists killed, wounded, or detained by Israeli forces in Gaza since October 7.
Wael Dahdouh, Al Jazeera‘s Gaza bureau chief, was wounded by an Israeli missile attack in December. Israeli forces have killed five members of Dahdouh’s family—including his son, Hamza, who was also an Al Jazeera journalist.
“After murdering multiple Al Jazeera journalists, Israel is now moving to expel the news organization entirely,” Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East wrote in response to the new law’s passage. “Israel continues to act as a rogue, authoritarian state with total impunity.”
Al Jazeerareported Monday that the Netanyahu government has been threatening to shutter the outlet and other publications for months under the guise of wartime security.
In a statement ahead of Monday’s vote, the Association for Civil Rights expressed opposition to the proposed crackdown on foreign media outlets, arguing that the measure’s “real purpose is not security-related but political: to allow the government to impose sanctions on foreign broadcasting tools whose broadcasts are not to its liking.”
“In addition to the grave infringement on freedom of expression and freedom of the press, it also prohibits the court from overturning a non-proportional decision, effectively tying the court’s hands from intervening in decisions regarding the closure of media outlets,” the group said. “This is a direct continuation of the judicial overhaul, harming the courts and media outlets, all while cynically using war and security justifications.”
Demonstrators sit on the main road and block it at a demonstration for a hostage deal near the Knesset, on March 31, 2024, in Jerusalem, Israel. (Photo: Yahel Gazit/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
“Our country is being led by a gang of nut cases that jeopardize not only our existence but our well-being,” one demonstrator said.
Tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated against the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Saturday and Sunday, in what were described as the largest protests in the country since Hamas’ October 7 attack on southern Israel and Israel’s war on Gaza that followed.
Participants carried signs reading, “Hostage deal now,” and arguing for Netanyahu’s “immediate removal,” according toThe New York Times. They demanded early elections and a cease-fire deal that would see the remaining hostages freed from Gaza, calls that came as indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel resumed in Egypt on Sunday.
“Our country is being led by a gang of nut cases that jeopardize not only our existence but our well-being,” 70-year-old protester Shaul Dwek told The Washington Post. “This is not the way we grew up and these are not the values that we hold.”
“After six months, it seems like the government understands that Bibi Netanyahu is an obstacle.”
Netanyahu faced months of internal protests before the October 7 attacks over his government’s planned overhaul of the judiciary to weaken the oversight powers of the Supreme Court. However, protests have been muted since Hamas killed 1,139 people on October 7 and took around 250 hostages into Gaza. Since then, Israel and the Netanyahu government have faced global protests and credible accusations of genocide over the war they launched in retaliation, which has killed nearly 33,000 people and subjected the survivors to famine and mass displacement.
In Israel, the war itself is still popular, according to The Associated Press. However, protesters are concerned about Netanyahu’s personal corruption and the degree to which he is prioritizing the release of hostages. While around half were released during a temporary cease-fire and prisoner exchange in 2023, the Israeli government estimates that around 130 are still being held in Gaza, including 34 who have died, The Guardian reported.
“The people of Israel were deep in sorrow and pain after 7 October, that is why it took so long, but when they understood there is no other option, this government is not functioning and is hurting us economically, diplomatically, in our security and in our values […] that is why people are out,” Naama Lazimi, a Labor party member of the Knesset who attended Sunday’s protest, said, as The Guardian reported.
The weekend’s protests were organized by a coalition of hostage family members and civil society and opposition groups, according to The Washington Post.
“The families of the hostages have reached a breaking point with Netanyahu,” Josh Drill, who heads a group called Change Generation that demands a new government and the freeing of the hostages, told the Post.
Family members also spoke out directly.
“We believe that no hostages will come back with this government because they’re busy putting sticks in the wheels of negotiations for the hostages,” Boaz Atzili, whose cousin and cousin’s wife were both taken hostage, told AP. “Netanyahu is only working in his private interests.”
Atzili’s cousin’s wife was freed, but his cousin died in Gaza.
Einav Moses, meanwhile, still has a father-in-law being held in Gaza.
“After six months, it seems like the government understands that Bibi Netanyahu is an obstacle,” Moses told the AP. “Like he doesn’t really want to bring them back, that they have failed in this mission.”
On Saturday, protests were concentrated in Tel Aviv, but also took place in other cities including Jerusalem and Haifa. On Sunday, the main demonstration was held outside the Knesset in Jerusalem, which organizers said was the largest in Israel since October 7.
“Reservists rushing between the Kaplan Street demonstrations and the ruins of Gaza or its skies, peppered with bombers or predator drones, are also respondents to a poll, whose answer is unambiguous.”
Protesters blocked the main highway in Tel Aviv on Saturday and lit bonfires in the streets, The Washington Post reported. Police sprayed them with water cannons and arrested 16, including family members of hostages. On Sunday, demonstrators also blocked roads in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Some protesters set up tents and prepared to stay until Wednesday, according to The New York Times.
“I will camp here in front of the Knesset until the PM resigns,” demonstrator Yaacov Godo, who lost a son on October 7, told The Guardian.
Israel is not scheduled to hold elections again until spring 2026, but Netanyahu’s coalition currently trails the opposition in the polls.
However, Israeli journalist Amira Hass, who covers the Occupied Territories for Haaretz, argued in a column for that paper that the majority of Israelis continue to support Netanyahu by backing the devastation wrought on Gaza.
“Reservists rushing between the Kaplan Street demonstrations and the ruins of Gaza or its skies, peppered with bombers or predator drones, are also respondents to a poll, whose answer is unambiguous,” Hass said, referring to a major Tel Aviv thoroughfare.
Hass wrote that the Israeli government’s plan for Palestinians amounted to forcing them to choose between accepting second-class status, leaving their homes entirely, or war and death.
“This is the plan now carried out in Gaza and the West Bank, with most Israelis serving as active and enthusiastic accomplices, or passively acquiescing in its realization, regardless of their revulsion for this government and its members,” Hass concluded. “The vast majority still believe that war is the solution.”
