Celebrity chef Jose Andres — founder of World Central Kitchen (WCK) charity group — has revealed a chilling account of the Israeli attack that killed seven of his food aid workers in Gaza, saying the assault targeted his team, "systematically, car by car."
Speaking via video to Reuters on Wednesday, Andres said the global charity group that provides meals in the wake of disasters had clear communication with the Israeli military, which he said knew his aid workers' movements.
"This was not just a bad luck situation where 'oops' we dropped the bomb in the wrong place," Andres said.
"This was over a 1.5, 1.8 kilometres, with a very defined humanitarian convoy that had signs in the top, in the roof, a very colourful logo that we are obviously very proud of," he said. It's "very clear who we are and what we do."
Andres said the Israeli military was aware of the convoy's whereabouts. He called for investigations of the incident by the US government and by the home country of every aid worker that was killed.
"They were targeting us in a deconflicting zone, in an area controlled by IDF [Israeli military]. They knowing that it was our teams moving on that road ... with three cars," he said.
The aid workers were killed when their convoy was hit shortly after they oversaw the unloading of 100 tonnes of food brought to Gaza by sea.
'Weapons provided by America ... are killing civilians'
Andres said there may have been more than three strikes against the aid convoy. He rejected Israeli and US assertions that the strike was not deliberate.
"Initially, I would say categorically no," Andres said when asked if he accepted that explanation.
"Even if we were not in coordination with the [Israeli military], no democratic country and no military can be targeting civilians and humanitarians," he added.
Asked for comment on Andres' remarks, an Israeli military spokesperson referred to prior comments by chief of staff Herzi Halevi in which he called the incident a grave mistake and said the attack "was not carried out with the intention of harming WCK aid workers."
Andres said he was personally supposed to be there with his team but was not able to go back to Gaza at the time.
The US needs to do more to stop the war, he said . Andres spoke to President Joe Biden on Tuesday.
"The US must do more to tell Prime Minister Netanyahu this war needs to end now," he said. He questioned Biden administration moves to supply aid in Gaza while also arming Israel.
World Central Kitchen (WCK) founder Chef Jose Andres answers one dead child is too many when asked what he would say to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while participating remotely in an online Reuters interview from Eastern Shore, Maryland, U.S., in this video grab taken on April 3, 2024. (Reuters TV)"It's very complicated to understand ... America is going to be sending its Navy and its military to do humanitarian work, but at the same time weapons provided by America ... are killing civilians," he said.
The chef also wondered aloud how Netanyahu could wage a war to save Israeli hostages "when they may be dying under the rubble of the same weapons" that Israel used against Palestinians.
Killed 'car by car'
Andres said his organisation was still studying the safety situation in Gaza as it contemplates starting aid deliveries again.
Australian, British and American citizens were among seven World Central Kitchen aid workers killed as it was leaving its Deir al Balah warehouse.
At least 196 humanitarian workers have been killed in Gaza since October, according to the United Nations, and Hamas has previously accused Israel of targeting aid distribution sites.
Andres described how he learned of the attack, saying first his group lost contact with its team in Gaza and did not realise what happened until seeing images of the bodies.
He said that after the Israeli forces attacked the first armoured car, the team was able to escape and move to a second car which was then attacked, forcing them to move to the third car.
The aid workers tried to communicate to make clear who they were, he said, adding Israeli forces knew they were in the area which it controlled.
Then the third car was hit, "and we saw the consequences of that."
World Central Kitchen began last month moving food aid to starving people in northern Gaza via a maritime corridor from Cyprus, in collaboration with Spanish charity Open Arms. The charity coordinated closely with Israel's military, Arab nations, and others, Andres said earlier.
Biden said he was "outraged and heartbroken" by the deaths. But the US sided with Netanyahu's assertion that the strikes were not deliberate.
Founded by Andres, 54, in 2010 after a Haiti earthquake, World Central Kitchen has tried to sidestep red tape around the world to rush aid to disaster-hit areas, including Ukraine.
Andres condemned the war as a whole.
"This it seems is a war against humanity itself. And you can never win that war. Because humanity eventually will always prevail," he said.
