'UK government bears responsibility for killing of aid workers in Gaza'

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - The British government bears "particular responsibility" for the Israeli killing of seven food aid workers in Gaza as a supplier of arms and munitions to Israel, according to the head of UK-based charity Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP).

In an op-ed published Thursday by the British daily Express, MAP CEO Melanie Ward noted that political leaders need to take action to prevent killings in Gaza.

Seven aid workers from the food charity World Central Kitchen (WCK) were killed in an Israeli strike on Monday in the Gaza Strip. They were nationals of Australia, Poland, the UK and Palestine as well as a US-Canada dual citizen.

It was later confirmed that three were British citizens -- James Kirby, James Henderson and John Chapman.

Ward noted that Israeli military attacks on aid workers in Gaza "are the norm, not the exception."

"The UK government appears furious that British nationals have been attacked by its ally, Israel, but I would hope they are just as moved by the deaths of the 196 other - mostly Palestinian - aid workers killed by Israeli forces in the last six months," she added.

She went on to say that their deaths are a "reminder" that there is no safe place for anyone in Gaza, whether Palestinian, British or any other nationality.

"As a supplier of arms and munitions to Israel, the UK government bears a particular responsibility in this regard," Ward noted, adding that the government needs to "immediately end arms transfers" to Israel and to call for an immediate cease-fire.

She noted that Gaza is now the world's most dangerous place for an aid worker.

Following the attack, WCK said it was pausing its operations in the region.

The attack has sounded international alarm bells, with many condemning it and demanding a thorough investigation.

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

Nearly 33,000 Palestinians have since been killed and over 75,000 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.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

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

“Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine...but that famine is setting in,” said the ICJ.