The Spanish chef José Andrés, founder of the NGO World Central Kitchen, has asked Israel “stop the indiscriminate killings” after the death of at least seven humanitarian workers from his organization in a bombing by the Israeli Army against his vehicle in the Gazan governorate of Deir al Balá.

“World Central Kitchen today lost several of our sisters and brothers in an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) airstrike in Gaza. I am heartbroken and grieving for their families. and friends and for our entire WCK family. (…) The Israeli Government must put an end to this indiscriminate killing“, the chef has published on his social network account X, formerly Twitter.

“These are people (angels) with whom I served in Ukraine, Gaza, Turkey, Morocco, Bahamas, Indonesia. They are not faceless people… they are not nameless people“, he added. In addition, he has urged the Israeli authorities to “stop restricting humanitarian aid” to the enclave, to stop “killing civilians and aid workers” and to “stop using food as a weapon.” “No more loss of innocent lives. Peace begins with our shared humanity. It has to start now,” added the chef.

These statements have come after Palestinian media have published information about the death of at least seven World Central Kitchen workers. Among the deceased are a British citizen, a Polish citizen and an Australian citizen, without further details being given so far, according to the Palestinian newspaper ‘Filastín’.

For its part, the NGO has recognized the deaths, ensuring that it is a “tragedy” and that humanitarian workerss “they should never be a target.”

The members of World Central Kitchen were in the Palestinian enclave in the context of the humanitarian mission initiated together with the NGO Open Arms to establish a maritime humanitarian corridor between Cyprus and the Strip in the face of the enormous difficulties faced by operations for the entry of aid by land.