Spanish NGO Open Arms ceases Gaza aid ops after WCK massacre
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The suspension of humanitarian efforts, compounded by the Israeli killing of aid workers, has plunged Gaza deeper into an unparalleled humanitarian catastrophe.
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Palestinian children inspect the site where World Central Kitchen workers were killed by a triple Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, April 2, 2024. (AP)
The Spanish NGO Open Arms temporarily halted its mission following the killing of seven aid workers in an Israeli airstrike.
Open Arms, whose vessel returned to the port of Larnaca in Cyprus on Wednesday, denounced the killing of the World Central Kitchen workers as "an incomprehensible act of violence."
The workers were transporting food and supplies from a second shipment sent from Cyprus when their convoy was targeted on Monday.
It is worth noting that the Spanish NGO Open Arms, in partnership with World Central Kitchen, arranged the chartering of the initial boat that reached Gaza through a designated sea corridor from Cyprus.
"With the arrival yesterday of the Open Arms boat in Larnaca, Cyprus, the mission in the humanitarian corridor to the Gaza Strip with World Central Kitchen is suspended following the devastating attack suffered by the convoy," Open Arms said in a statement.
The NGO, which reported the delivery of 200 tonnes of food and supplies in the initial shipment in March, conveyed sadness regarding the fatalities.
"We demand answers and accountability for this unacceptable attack," Open Arms director Oscar Camps said in the statement.
This happened shortly after several humanitarian aid organizations suspended, on Thursday, their operations in Gaza following Israeli airstrikes that resulted in the deaths of seven workers from World Central Kitchen.
These nonprofits, including World Central Kitchen, are now reportedly assessing the safety of their personnel in delivering aid to the besieged Strip amid the relentless and indiscriminate Israeli bombing.
In the same context, the United Nations reported that over 180 humanitarian aid workers have been killed since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on Gaza on October 7.
“We are horrified and heartbroken by the tragic killing of seven innocent humanitarians in Gaza,” said Chris Skopec, executive vice president of global health at Project HOPE, which operates health clinics in Rafah and Deir al-Balah and provides medical supplies and other aid to area hospitals.
'There needs to be accountability'
Seven food aid workers were killed in a triple Israeli strike on their vehicle in Gaza's Deir al-Balah last Sunday. The occupation entity admitted that it was behind the attack and has received wide condemnation, especially from Western countries, who also demanded an "immediate investigation" into the crime.
Simultaneously, the WCK released a statement saying that its "team was traveling in a deconflicted zone in two armored cars branded with the WCK logo and a soft skin vehicle."
According to the organization, the three World Central Kitchen vehicles were targeted after loading food from a nearby warehouse. The organization asserted that these vehicles were clearly identifiable, and their movements were monitored by the Israeli military.
Additionally, Skopec elaborated on the common use of these precautions by humanitarian workers to protect themselves in risky regions. The targeting of the World Central Kitchen convoy by military fire further intensified the worries of aid workers active in the area, as highlighted by the executive vice president of global health at Project HOPE.
“There needs to be accountability,” Skopec said. “The government of Israel needs to be able to give assurances that they consider aid workers legitimate actors in Gaza and that international law will be respected. We need to be able to do this critical, life-saving work safely.”
'Aid workers are currently under Israeli attack'
In the same context, Anera, a partner of World Central Kitchen and Project HOPE involved in offering humanitarian aid in the Middle East, declared its decision to suspend its humanitarian efforts in Gaza, describing it as an "unprecedented step". Throughout the Israeli genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, Anera's team has been consistently delivering an average of 150,000 meals per day in Gaza.
“The blatant nature of the attack on WCK’s convoy has proven that aid workers are currently under attack,” said Anera media relations officer Steve Fake. “Our decision to resume aid relies on the safety of our staff.”
World Central Kitchen (WCK), a charity based in the United States, declared its decision to halt humanitarian operations in Gaza indefinitely after seven of its staff members were killed in an Israeli airstrike.
Additionally, as a result of this suspension, the organization has chosen to redirect its second aid shipment, which had departed from Cyprus en route to Gaza on Saturday via the humanitarian sea corridor.
It is worth noting that the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs warned last Thursday that "time is running out, and obstacles to accessing aid persist in the Gaza Strip."
The statement emphasized that "over 1.1 million people in Gaza are facing severe levels of food insecurity," asserting that "there is no alternative to delivering aid by land to save lives, particularly in northern Gaza."
Meanwhile, "Israel" continues its genocide in Gaza, which has been ongoing for 182 days, striking all aspects of life and deliberately practicing starvation against the people of the Gaza Strip amid a suffocating siege exacerbated by the closure of land crossings and the prohibition of the entry of aid.
With the suspension of aid organizations, the situation in Gaza has reached a critical juncture, akin to a death sentence for the 2.3 million people residing in the Strip.
