UN rapporteur accuses Israel of 'intentionally' killing aid workers in Gaza

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

GENEVA (AA) - The UN rapporteur on Palestinian territories accused Israel of "intentionally" killing seven members of the US-based charity World Central Kitchen (WCK) in Gaza.

"Knowing how Israel operates, my assessment is that Israeli forces intentionally killed WCK workers so that donors would pull out and civilians in Gaza could continue to be starved quietly," Francesca Albanese said Tuesday on X.

"Israel knows Western countries and most Arab countries won't move a finger for the Palestinians," Albanese added.

In an earlier post, the rapporteur asked for sanctions and indictments against Israel following the incident.

"On the day Israel bombed a foreign embassy in a third country, it also killed WCK humanitarian workers," she said. "Israel is crossing every possible red line, still with full impunity. Sanctions now. Indictments now."

On Tuesday, the charity confirmed that seven of its humanitarian aid workers were killed in Monday's Israeli strike in the Gaza Strip.

"The WCK team was traveling in a deconflicted zone in two armored cars branded with the WCK logo and a soft skin vehicle," it said in a statement.

Despite coordinating movements with the Israeli army, the charity added, the convoy was hit as it was leaving the group's warehouse in the southern city of Deir al-Balah, where the team had unloaded more than 100 tons of humanitarian food aid brought to Gaza on a maritime route.

"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 CEO Erin Gore.

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