(AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
Chef José Andrés called for significant changes from Israel in a Wednesday opinion piece after seven aid workers were killed in Gaza.
The seven workers — Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, John Chapman, Jacob Flickinger, Zomi Frankcom, James Henderson, James Kirby, and Damian Sobol — were killed in a strike in what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed was an “unintentional” act that is being investigated.
“These are people I served alongside in Ukraine, Turkey, Morocco, the Bahamas, Indonesia, Mexico, Gaza and Israel. They were far more than heroes,” Andrés wrote in The New York Times about the aid workers who were with his World Central Kitchen when they were attempting to get aid into Gaza.
Andrés called the seven workers the “best of humanity.” He said his World Central Kitchen has served nearly two million hot meals in Israel and approximately 43 million Gaza where he warned many are facing famine due to Israel’s strikes, which have killed thousands of civilians. Netanyahu has vowed the strikes will not stop until Hamas is eliminated. The terror group attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,000 and kidnapping hundreds.
“Israel is better than the way this war is being waged. It is better than blocking food and medicine to civilians. It is better than killing aid workers who had coordinated their movements with the Israel Defense Forces,” Andrés wrote.
He called for more land routes to be opened by Israel for food and medicine and pushed back on Netanyahu saying this “happens in war” shortly after news of the aid workers dying broke.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said of the Israeli killings of our team, ‘It happens in war.’ It was a direct attack on clearly marked vehicles whose movements were known by the Israel Defense Forces,” Andrés wrote.
He called for Israel to stop the killing of aid workers.
“In the worst conditions, after the worst terrorist attack in its history, it’s time for the best of Israel to show up. You cannot save the hostages by bombing every building in Gaza. You cannot win this war by starving an entire population,” he wrote.
White House spokesperson John Kirby noted in a Tuesday press conference at the White House that more than 200 aid workers have been killed in Gaza. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre revealed President Joe Biden contacted Andrés after learning of the death of his volunteers and said he’d “make clear” to Israel that aid workers “must be protected.”
Read the entire op-ed here.
