The Guardian described the circumstances of the deaths of WCK workers in Gaza
In the Gaza Strip, seven employees of the humanitarian organization World Central Kitchen (WCK) were killed on April 1, 2024, as a result of three Israeli drone strikes on WCK vehicles. As The Guardian World reports, after unloading food, the convoy was heading to accommodation in Rafah, and the strikes occurred between 23:09 and 23:13.
That evening, the WCK team oversaw the unloading of a barge carrying humanitarian aid at a temporary pier on the Mediterranean coast. The cargo contained food intended to prepare more than one million meals, including rice, flour, protein products and dates donated by the United Arab Emirates. The delivery had been coordinated with the Israeli military for several days, and an Israeli officer was present at the pier.
Coordination problems
After unloading, eight trucks and two WCK escort vehicles received final permission to depart with a delay. By the time the convoy headed south, it was already dark. Two drones assigned to the Israel Defense Forces' Nahal Brigade joined the monitoring of the route, but the brigade did not have complete information about the pre-arranged humanitarian mission.
A special adviser to the Australian government who examined the circumstances of the death of Australian national Lalzawmi Frankcom concluded that the mission details had not been passed from the higher levels of Southern Command to the brigade and the drone operator. At the WCK site, the convoy was met by hired local guards, at least one of whom was armed. WCK stated that the use of an armed escort was contrary to the organization's policy.
According to the official Israeli version, the military assumed that Hamas had taken over the convoy. At the same time, according to the Australian report and WCK sources, the organization's headquarters in the United States contacted an employee in Gaza that evening and assured the Israeli military that contact with the convoy had not been lost and that the humanitarian aid had not been taken over.
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Guards and WCK workers part ways
The convoy reached a WCK warehouse in Deir al-Balah and unloaded the food. After that, the local guards and WCK workers remained near the vehicles for about ten minutes. The Nahal Brigade's chief of staff, reserve Colonel Nochi Mendel, believed that the WCK workers were “mixing” with armed Hamas members. This was his assessment of the situation.
According to the Australian report, the guards' vehicle drove north, while the WCK vehicles headed west toward the coast. One drone tracked the guards' transport to another warehouse, where up to four armed people entered; it was decided to stop further targeting of them because of a lack of time. The account by the Israeli military prosecutor states that several people were allegedly mistakenly identified as armed and as getting into WCK vehicles.
Seven dead
Three WCK vehicles were struck at intervals of approximately two minutes. After the first strike, two survivors moved to the second vehicle, and after the second strike, another two moved to the third. No one survived in the third vehicle. Those killed were UK nationals John Chapman, James Kirby and James Henderson, Australian national Lalzawmi Frankcom, Polish national Damian Sobol, Palestinian national Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, and US-Canadian national Jacob Flickinger.
Israel's military prosecutor also referred to a change in the convoy's route toward Rafah. However, the Australian report concluded that this change became known only after the WCK workers were killed, so it did not affect the decision to open fire. World Central Kitchen stated that it considers the Israeli military's explanations a threat to all humanitarian workers and demands an independent investigation and the full disclosure of Israel Defense Forces evidence.
