CHEF ANDRES ACCUSES ISRAEL OF DELIBERATEL TARGETING HIS WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN AID WORKERS

Chef Jose Andres says aid workers were 'systematically TARGETED' before air strike that killed seven... while White House refuses to say if Israel will face consequences despite Biden's 'outrage'

The IDF has denied a deliberate attack 

 

By Geoff Earle

 

Daily Mail

Apr 3, 2024

 

Chef José Andrés accuses Israel of deliberately targeting his World Central Kitchen aid workers

 

The White House on Wednesday refused to say if Israel would face any consequences from its chief ally the U.S. amid fury over the strike that took out an aid convoy and killed seven relief workers from World Central Kitchen.

Andres in a new interview said the IDF targeted aid workers 'systematically, car by car.'

He said the IDF knew his aid workers' movements in advance of their ill-fated trip inside Gaza. This was not a "bad luck situation where, "oops," we dropped the bomb in the wrong place,' he said. 

'Even if we were not in coordination with the (Israel Defense Forces), no democratic country and no military can be targeting civilians and humanitarians,' he told Reuters after penning  an op-ed where he declared 'food is not a weapon of war.' 

 

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked repeatedly Wednesday if there would be any consequences for Israel after the IDF took out an aid convoy and killed seven World Central Kitchen workers

 

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to reveal any consequences for Israel, who relies on the U.S. for an annual $3.3 billion in military aid.

'We've had we're having conversations with Israel. We've been very clear about that. Those conversations have been tough. We've been very public about those conversations on this particular incident. There will be an investigation,' she said, pointing to an internal Israeli probe that the administration called for.

'The president has said he wants it to be swift, he wants it to be comprehensive, and he is there to seek accountability, to bring account for account, right? To bring accountability.

She referred repeatedly to Biden's strongly worded written statement Tuesday, although Biden did not speak publicly about the region during health care themed remarks at the White House Wednesday. 

'And you heard from the President last night in his statement, he is he's outraged he is hearbroken. We're all heartbroken here, those seven lives,' she said.

 

President Joe Biden is calling for an investigation and accountability after an Israeli drone strike killed seven aid workers in Gaza on Monday. Dual American-Canadian citizen 33-year-old Jacob Flickinger (right) was among the seven killed in the IDF drone attack

People carry the body of one of the foreign workers from World Central Kitchen who was killed in the airstrike as the bodies are transported to their families outside of Gaza

Polish World Central Kitchen aid worker Damian Sobol, 35, (left) and Australian aid worker Lalzawmi (Zomi) Frankcom, 43 (right) were among those killed in the strike in Gaza

British military veterans James Henderson, 33, (center), John Chapman, 57, (left) and James Kirby, 47, (right) were traveling in the World Central Kitchen aid convoy providing meals to Palestinians on Gaza when they were hit and killed by missiles fired by an IDF drone

American-Canadian Jacob Flickinger, 33, who was one of the seven victims of the strike

Palestinian Saifeddine Issam Ayad Abutaha, 25, was part of the WCK team that was killed in the strike

Palestinians are standing next to a vehicle in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, on April 2, 2024, where employees from the World Central Kitchen (WCK), including foreigners, were killed in an Israeli airstrike

Palestinians inspect a vehicle with the logo of the World Central Kitchen that was wrecked by an Israeli airstrike in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip

 

Biden's statement, to which Jean-Pierre referred repeatedly, said: 'I am outraged and heartbroken by the deaths of seven humanitarian workers from World Central Kitchen, including one American, in Gaza yesterday. They were providing food to hungry civilians in the middle of a war.'

'They were brave and selfless. Their deaths are a tragedy. Israel has pledged to conduct a thorough investigation into why the aid workers’ vehicles were hit by airstrikes. That investigation must be swift, it must bring accountability, and its findings must be made public.'

Asked earlier why the U.S. shouldn't conclude it was a deliberate strike, national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters Wednesday, 'As I said yesterday, they're investigating it and we have every expectation – we do expect that they will do a thorough job, a swift job, and that they'll be transparent about what they find,' he said.

IDF chief Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi apologized Wednesday for the strike, which he called a 'misidentification.'

'I want to be very clear—the strike was not carried out with the intention of harming WCK aid workers. It was a mistake that followed a misidentification at night during a war in very complex conditions. It shouldn’t have happened.'

Former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau was among those criticising the White House's public response.

.The President doesn't get credit for being "privately enraged" when he still refuses to use leverage to stop the IDF from killing and starving innocent people. These stories only make him look weak,' he posted.