The World Kitchen tragedy is not the first: 196 aid workers were killed in Gaza
Since the killing of 7 members of the World Central Kitchen relief team in Israeli raids on the city of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, international condemnations and demands to open an investigation have not stopped.
While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his apology for this incident, which he described as tragic, and promised to open an investigation, US President Joe Biden called for the necessity of accelerating this promised investigation and publishing its results publicly, as did Britain and Poland, which lost citizens among the dead.
However, many activists and observers questioned Israel’s commitment to the investigation and recalled what happened at the Kuwait Roundabout north of Gaza last January, where more than 100 civilians waiting for aid trucks were killed by Israeli forces’ bullets.
While the Israeli army contented itself with confirming that civilians fell as a result of their rush to relief trucks, which created massive chaos, leading to some being run over. While others who approached the Israeli checkpoints also fell.
Previous tragedies
However, it is worth noting that the killing of the two aid workers yesterday, Tuesday, is not the first of its kind, as it was preceded by many cases since the outbreak of war in Gaza on the seventh of last October.
This was clearly announced by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, who wrote in a tweet on his account on the X platform yesterday evening that the Israeli raids on the team. World Central Kitchen raised the death toll of aid workers since the start of the conflict in Gaza to 196.
He also added that among these victims were more than 175 United Nations employees.
Since October 7, Israeli raids have killed 173 UN workers and targeted 161 UN facilities.
In addition, the Israeli bombing led to the death of about 409 civilians who were taking shelter in United Nations sites, according to what was published by Charles Lister, Director of the Counter-Terrorism Department at the Middle East Institute.
Israeli raids also targeted aid convoys and trucks belonging to UNRWA several times, according to official statements issued by it.
