The World Central Kitchen founder and chef José Andrés said his staff that was working in Gaza had been killed in an IDF airstrike on the strip.
Gaza’s Hamas-run media office has also blamed Israel for the incident. The alleged strike could not be verified by anyone reporting.
Israel’s military IDF had said it was conducting a thorough review of the incident
A medical source at al-Aqsa hospital which was previously was part of a night raid conducted in the central Gaza Strip told the BBC and CNN that the bodies of the four workers and their Palestinian driver had been brought to the hospital after a car they were travelling was hit by an air strike at Deir al-Balah.
The Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had personally confirmed that the aid worker Lalzawmi Frankcom was among those killed and had offered his condolences to family and friends, a truly horrible sight for the family of the deceased.
In an online statement on X, he said: “This is someone who was that was volunteering overseas to provide aid through this charity for people who are suffering tremendous deprivation in Gaza. And this is just completely unacceptable.”
He said Australia now expects “full accountability” on behalf of the IDF, and that this is a “tragedy that should never have occurred”.
A Palestinian medical source told the media agencies reporting on the situation in Gaza the workers had been wearing bullet-proof vests bearing the WCK logo.
Local journalists have shared footage and images of passports 
they say belong to the killed workers online, identifying people of several different nationalities, but no details have been confirmed by anyone, even the WCK workers too.
In a statement, the WCK said it was “aware of reports” that members of its team had been “killed in an IDF attack while working to support our humanitarian food delivery efforts in Gaza”.
“This is a tragedy. Humanitarian aid workers and civilians should never be a target, ever. We will share more information when we have gathered all the facts,” it stated.
The charity WCK has recently made the headlines for providing the hundreds of tonnes of food for Gaza civilians that are affected that arrived on the first aid ship via Cyprus by USA and Jordan.
Statements on Gaza
Commenting on the reports, the IDF said it was conducting a thorough review at the highest level to understand the circumstances of this “tragic incident”.
“The IDF makes extensive efforts to enable the safe delivery of humanitarian aid, and has been working closely with WCK in their vital efforts to provide food and humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza,” it said.
Prior to confirmation that an Australian national had been killed in the incident, the Australian foreign ministry said-
“We have been very clear that we expect humanitarian workers in Gaza to have safe and unimpeded access to do their lifesaving work”.
The UK Foreign Office and Polish foreign ministry have been contacted for further comments.
