World Central Kitchen founder Chef José Andrés spoke out after seven of the humanitarian organization's staffers were killed by an Israeli air strike.
The renowned chef and restaurateur said that his group was in communication with Israeli armed forces and said humanitarian workers and civilians should never pay the consequences of war, adding that it's a basic principle of humanity.
"This it seems is a war against humanity itself. And you can never win that war. Because humanity eventually will always prevail," Andrés said in an interview with Reuters.
Andrés said the World Central Kitchen charity group had clear communication with the Israeli military, which he said knew his aid workers' movements.
AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File
"This was not just a bad luck situation where 'oops' we dropped the bomb in the wrong place," Andrés said.
He rejected Israeli and U.S. assertions that the strike was not deliberate.
"Initially, I would say categorically no," Andrés said when asked if he accepted that explanation. "Even if we were not in coordination with the Israel Defense Forces, no democratic country and no military can be targeting civilians and humanitarians," Andrés said.
"The U.S. must do more to tell Prime Minister Netanyahu this war needs to end now," he said, adding that he spoke to President Biden on Tuesday.
In a statement, Biden said he was "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," the president's statement said.
Netanyahu said in a statement Tuesday that "Israel deeply regrets the tragic incident" and the IDF will conduct a "swift and transparent investigation" with the findings made public.
Andrés called for a "neutral" investigation of the incident.
"Even if we were not in coordination with the [IDF], no democratic country and no military can be targeting civilians and humanitarians," he told Reuters.
The deaths of the World Central Kitchen workers threatened to set back efforts by the U.S. and other countries to open a maritime corridor for aid from Cyprus to help ease the desperate conditions in northern Gaza. The loss also prompted multiple charities to suspend food deliveries to Palestinians on the brink of starvation.
This comes as the president is expected to speak to Netanyahu on Thursday.
The hit on the charity's convoy also highlighted what critics have called Israel's indiscriminate bombing and lack of regard for civilian casualties in Gaza.
Netanyahu's foreign policy adviser, Ophir Falk, pushed back against claims that the attack on the WCK-branded vehicles was intentional.
"That's absurd," Falk told ABC News on Wednesday. "The last thing we would want in the world is to endanger civilian lives."
Falk said the seven workers died due to "friendly fire in the middle of the night" and called the deaths a "tragic event."
"This war is a complex war," he said. "The incident happened in the middle of the night. It should not have happened. And we'll do everything possible that it doesn't happen again."
AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah
He said "we understand the outcry" from the international community over the deaths and noted that "a number of IDF soldiers" and three Israeli hostages died due to friendly fire during the war.
New images of the heavily damaged convoy show the workers traveling in clearly marked World Central Kitchen vehicles.
Menurut laporan pada bulan Maret oleh Klasifikasi Fase Ketahanan Pangan Terpadu (IPC), kelaparan “akan segera terjadi” di Gaza utara, karena seluruh penduduk di jalur tersebut mengalami kerawanan pangan tingkat tinggi di tengah perang Israel-Hamas yang sedang berlangsung.
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