Organization of Islamic Cooperation condemns killing of World Central Kitchen workers in Gaza

By Alperen Aktas

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) condemned the killing of seven aid workers with World Central Kitchen (WCK) in an Israeli airstrike while they were carrying out humanitarian aid work in Gaza.

"This massacre sends a clear Israeli message to the world that everyone is threatened with death in the Gaza Strip, amid deliberate starvation and indirect expulsion of international organizations, a policy that began with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and continues to intimidate all those working to provide food to the residents of Gaza," it said Monday in a statement.

The statement also called on the international community to exert necessary pressure on Israel to respect universal humanitarian law and to immediately stop its attacks on the Gaza Strip.

It also called on the international community to ensure the protection of civilians and the delivery of humanitarian aid in Gaza under Israeli attacks.

The WCK earlier confirmed that seven of its humanitarian aid workers were killed in Monday's "unforgivable" Israeli strike.

Despite coordinating its movements with the Israeli military, the charity said the convoy was hit as it was leaving a warehouse in the southern city of Deir al-Balah after the team unloaded more than 100 tons of humanitarian food aid brought to Gaza on a maritime route.

Pictures from the scene showed at least one vehicle with clear markings labeling it as part of World Central Kitchen.

“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. This is unforgivable,” said World Central Kitchen CEO Erin Gore.

The workers that were killed were nationals of Australia, Poland, the UK and Palestine as well as a US-Canada dual citizen.

Israel has announced that it will investigate the attacks, which the White House said should take days, not weeks, to resolve.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack led by the Palestinian group Hamas which killed around 1,200 people.

At least 32,916 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza and some 75,494 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation. That has dramatically heightened the need for international assistance in the coastal enclave amid stringent Israeli restrictions on its entry.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which last week asked Tel Aviv to do more to prevent famine in Gaza.