Israel faces mounting outrage from allies after killing World Central Kitchen aid workers

International condemnation is swelling on Wednesday after Israel killed seven aid workers from a U.S.-based food charity founded by a renowned celebrity chef.

Israel’s unapologetic Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday admitted that an “unintentional” Israeli airstrike killed “innocent people” in Gaza. He added that “this happens in wartime.”

But Israel’s staunchest allies have harangued Netanyahu over the killings, amid increasing global outcry over the Israel Defense Forces’ war tactics, which authorities in Gaza and international organizations say have killed more than 30,000 people.

According to chef José Andrés, founder of World Central Kitchen (WCK) which was transporting aid when it came under attack, the deadly strikes earlier this week were “a direct attack on clearly marked vehicles whose movements were known by the Israel Defense Forces,” as he called on an investigation “to start at the top, not just the bottom.”

“You cannot save the hostages by bombing every building in Gaza. You cannot win this war by starving an entire population,” Andrés wrote in an opinion piece for the New York Times on Wednesday.

According to Israeli media, the food convoy was hit three times near a warehouse in central Gaza after unloading the latest delivery of aid brought to the coastal enclave on a recently inaugurated maritime route.

WCK has provided hundreds of tons of humanitarian aid to Gazans facing starvation, amounting to more than 42 million meals over 175 days.

Israel’s retaliation against Hamas in Gaza — sparked by the militant group’s violent attack against Israel on Oct. 7 last year, in which it killed more than 1,000 people and captured hostages — is growing increasingly difficult for allies to support, as the Israel Defense Forces lay waste to swathes of Gaza.

The White House was “outraged” to learn of the strikes on food workers, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Tuesday. 

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned Wednesday on social media that “the vast majority of Poles showed full solidarity with Israel after the Hamas attack. Today you are putting this solidarity to a really hard test.”

Tusk added: “The tragic attack on volunteers and your reaction arouse understandable anger.”

Some of the most vituperative criticism came from the U.K., which has long been one of Israel’s most ardent backers. Three of the dead aid workers were British citizens.

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told Netanyahu Tuesday night that “far too many aid workers and ordinary civilians have lost their lives in Gaza and the situation is increasingly intolerable,” according to a readout of the leaders’ call provided by No. 10 Downing Street.

The EU echoed Sunak’s conclusion that the killings were “appalling.”

In a joint statement, top EU diplomat Josep Borrell and Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič added that Israel should abide by international law and protect humanitarian workers, and demanded “a thorough investigation and ensure accountability for those who are responsible.”

The seven people killed Monday were volunteers and aid workers from Australia, Poland, the U.K., a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada, and Palestine. They join a list of more than 200 humanitarian workers killed in the past six months in Gaza.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued new provisional measures last week including that Israel must prevent acts of genocide committed by its military “including by preventing, through any action, the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian assistance.”