Seven aid workers with World Central Kitchen were killed when their convoy came under fire overnight between Monday and Tuesday, according to the aid organization and Palestinian health officials in Gaza.
The disaster relief organization, founded by the Spanish chef José Andrés, said members of its staff were hit in an Israeli strike, the Israeli army said the episode was being investigated, without taking responsibility for the strike. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel acknowledged on Tuesday a “tragic case of our forces unintentionally hitting innocent people”
Here’s what we know.
The convoy of three vehicles had just left a food warehouse.
The World Central Kitchen staff members were leaving a warehouse in Deir al-Balah, a city in the central Gaza Strip, when their convoy, two armored cars and a third vehicle came under fire, the organization said in a statement. The precise time of the episode has not been determined, but it was late Monday night or just after midnight on Tuesday.
The Israeli military had been informed of aid workers’ movements, the charity said. Aid workers had just unloaded more than 100 tons of food brought to Gaza by sea at the warehouse, according to the group.
Video footage filmed by a Palestinian journalist and verified by The New York Times shows at least two destroyed white vehicles at the scene. One of the cars was left with a gaping hole in its roof, which was clearly marked with the World Central Kitchen logo. Papers bearing the WCK logo could also be seen inside the charred interior of the second car.
It remained unclear on Tuesday morning what sort of munition struck the cars and whether those explosives were launched from the ground, from a warplane or from a drone.
