The seven killed are from Australia, Poland, United Kingdom, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada, and Palestine.

The footage showed the victims were dressed in protective gear with World Central Kitchen logos and displayed some of their passports identifying the British, Polish and Australian workers.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said it had recovered all seven bodies from the scene of the incident following a "challenging operation spanning several hours".

The humanitarian group added that the bodies had been taken to the Abu Yousef al-Najjar hospital in southern Gaza in preparation for their evacuation through the Rafah border crossing into Egypt.

What role has WCK ?

Two main reasons explain why WCK has become so indispensable in Gaza:

1° Its ability to distribute food, facilitated by good relations with Israel (as an American NGO), and the establishment of a maritime corridor and a distribution network.

2° The fact that UNRWA, the largest UN agency operating in Gaza, has been accused by Israel—without any evidence ever presented—of being pro-terrorist and including armed Hamas members in its ranks. This smear campaign has led many countries to reduce funding to UNRWA. The campaign has been criticized as an Israeli strategy to isolate and starve Gaza's inhabitants.

The group is no stranger to conflict zones : it has also operated in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion, where it has also lost seven people. WCK has been operating in Gaza - as well as in Israel and Lebanon - since October 7, 2023. By 29 March, the organisation had dispatched more than 1,700 trucks with food and cooking equipment through the Rafah crossing from Egypt, and was working through 68 "community kitchens". Additionally, it has delivered 230,000 meals from Jordan, both overland and via airdrops, and sent 435,000 meals by sea.

Statements and calls to investigation

In their statement, on April 3, CEO World Central Kitchen Erin Gore claims that :

• Their team have been killed in IDF strikes in Gaza
• The WCK team was traveling in a deconflicted zone in two armored cars branded with the WCK logo and a soft skin vehicle
• The movements was coordinated with the IDF
• The convoy was hit as it was leaving the Deir al-Balah warehouse, where the team had unloaded more than 100 tons of humanitarian food aid brought to Gaza on the maritime route
• They consider this attack not only against WCK, but on all humanitarian organizations in order to starve Palestinian population "where food is being used as a weapon of war"

“I am heartbroken and appalled that we—World Central Kitchen and the world—lost beautiful lives today because of a targeted attack by the IDF. The love they had for feeding people, the determination they embodied to show that humanity rises above all, and the impact they made in countless lives will forever be remembered and cherished,”

IDF respons

The IDF says it is “carrying out an in-depth examination at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of this tragic incident.” "We will get to the bottom of this and we will share our findings transparently," IDF spokesperson Rear Adm Daniel Hagari vowed. The work of WCK is critical; they are on the frontlines of humanity." Mr Hagari added that the IDF had been "working closely with the World Central Kitchen to assist them in fulfilling their noble mission of helping bring food and humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza".

Mr Netanyahu released a video message on Tuesday in which he said Israeli forces were behind the attack. "Unfortunately, in the last 24 hours there was a tragic case of our forces unintentionally hitting innocent people in the Gaza Strip," and he claimed responsibility for the “unintended” airstrikes and said it was a “tragic event,” but he also said "It happens in war, we check it to the end, we are in contact with the governments, and we will do everything so that this thing does not happen again."

International government statements :

• UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke to Mr Netanyahu on Tuesday. On the call, he described the situation in Gaza as "increasingly intolerable" and "demanded a thorough and transparent independent investigation" into the killing of the aid workers. Mr Sunak added that Israel needed to end restrictions on humanitarian aid and protect civilians, according to a Downing Street statement.

• Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had "expressed Australia's anger and concern" in a long phone call with Mr Netanyahu, and that he expected a "full and proper explanation for how this has occurred"

• Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said he had demanded an independent investigation from Israel Katz, his Israeli counterpart.

• Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said "full accountability" was needed, adding that it was "absolutely unacceptable for aid workers to be killed" by the IDF

Aftermath :

World Central Kitchen paused their operations in the region during several months.

In his chronicle from April, Rami Abou Jamousexpresses one of the most important concern about this massacre : "The result is that WCK has stopped working in Gaza and other NGOs are now afraid. They have drawn an obvious conclusion: if the WCK aid workers who had good relations with the Israelis and the Americans, and who had great facilities to bring goods into Gaza suffered this fate, the others, who struggle to coordinate with the Israeli forces, now know that no one is safe."

Investigations

Geolocation

Geolocation of the damaged WCK vehicle on Al-Rashid Coastal Road, going south, from Deir al-Balah, 31.416816, 34.329056

The second vehicle with a hole through it's top can be found, approximately 800 meters from the heavily damaged and burned out car, at the following coordinates: 31.411617, 34.322912

A third vehicle was also found here by @m_osint that's approx 1,6 kilometres away from the second car, at the following coordinates: 31°24'02.32" N 34°18'41.30" E

Chronology of Events in the Strike That Killed Aid Workers (as per IDF Findings):

10:00 PM: A convoy of eight World Central Kitchen (WCK) lorries left the unloading pier in Gaza, heading to a warehouse.

10:28 PM: Drone surveillance identified an armed individual on one of the lorries, apparently firing to manage a crowd. IDF notified COGAT (Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories), which tried unsuccessfully to contact WCK on the ground and in Europe.

10:46 PM: A second armed person joined, leading the IDF to classify the convoy as carrying Hamas operatives. However, the drone operator was ordered not to strike due to its humanitarian nature.

10:55 PM: Four vehicles left the warehouse, with two Hermes 450 armed drones monitoring. One vehicle diverged north toward a second hangar; its occupants were deemed armed and linked to Hamas. The other three vehicles headed south with the seven aid workers.

Pre-Strike Assumptions:

• Hamas fighters occupied the vehicles.
• The aid workers remained at the warehouse.
• The humanitarian mission was over.

11:09 PM: First missile struck the lead vehicle after sign-off by an IDF Colonel and Major, based on misidentifications.

11:11 PM: A second strike hit the next vehicle, despite visible charity logos. Survivors fled to the third car.

11:13 PM: A third strike destroyed the remaining vehicle, killing all seven aid workers.

In conclusion, IDF admited the following key failures on an operation they justified by pretending Hamas fighters were in the convoy (They brought no evidence of these allegations) :

• The coordination plan agreed between the WCK and the IDF was not distributed down to operational level
• They have a suspicion that an armed man had entered Misidentification of the convoy and its passengers. Breakdown in communication within the IDF command chain. Inadequate visibility of charity markings on vehicles at night.
• Violations of operational protocols in ordering subsequent strikes without updated evidence.
• The IDF admitted to "grave mistakes" and suspended involved personnel, citing systemic failings in identification and rules of engagement.

The first is that one of the vehicles, was not enough to justify identifying it as a target The third failing was to continue firing after the first missile had struck the first car

After this internal investigation, international demands for independent investigations and accountability persist.

D. Declassified UK Pushes for Release of RAF Footage in Gaza Aid Worker Killings (July 22, 2024)

Declassified UK is investigating the UK government's role in withholding surveillance footage from a Royal Air Force (RAF) spy plane over Gaza on April 1, 2024, the day Israeli airstrikes killed seven international aid workers, including three British veterans. The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) refuses to release the footage, citing security concerns. Declassified has filed a Freedom of Information (FOI) request and plans to appeal the MoD's decision. Families of the deceased aid workers demand access to the footage, believing it could clarify the circumstances of their deaths.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is also investigating potential war crimes by Israel, and the footage could serve as key evidence. Declassified is pressing the UK government to share this information with the ICC, as the UK has a duty to cooperate in war crimes investigations, especially involving British citizens. The situation highlights the tension between national security, accountability, and international law, with Declassified playing a critical role in advocating for transparency.

Victimes's names

• Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, 25 (Palestinian)
• John Chapman, 57 (U.K.)
• James "Jim" Henderson, 33 (U.K.)
• James Kirby, 47 (U.K.)
• Damian Sobol, 35, (Poland)
• Jacob Flickinger, 33, (U.S. and Canada)
• Lalzawmi "Zomi" Frankcom, 43, (Australia).

[Source]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68715254 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-68710515 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68715254

https://thehill.com/policy/international/4575144-who-are-the-world-central-kitchen-workers-killed-by-israeli-strike/

Aftermath and impunity

On Augustus 19, 2026, the Israeli military announced that it would launch criminal investigations into two high profile attacks in Gaza, including the killing of five-year-old Hind Rajab and six members of her family in January 2024, and the massacre of 15 Palestinian aid workers in southern Gaza in March 2025.

Though, the military said it would not launch criminal investigations into three other attacks that killed aid workers from World Central Kitchen and Doctors Without Borders. The decisions followed reviews by the Israeli military’s fact-finding mechanism, which is officially tasked with examining exceptional operational incidents during wartime.

IDF statement:

"On April 1, 2024, during a WCK operation to transfer humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, fire was directed at vehicles belonging to the organization, resulting in the deaths of seven of its employees. The findings of the examination indicate that, on that day, IDF troops identified a gunman on a truck in the humanitarian aid convoy while it was on a route to a warehouse for the unloading of the aid. The troops also identified vehicles surrounding the trucks in a manner that, in their assessment, and based on accumulated operational experience, corresponded to a scenario in which the Hamas terrorist organization had taken control of the convoy.

The examination further found that WCK employees had hired an armed security force to accompany the convoy until the completion of the operation in order to protect it from seizure by armed actors in Gaza. This was done due to the convoy’s delayed departure, during nighttime hours, from the pier at which the aid had been collected, toward the warehouse where the aid was to be unloaded. The presence of this armed security force in the organization’s vehicles was not coordinated with IDF authorities.

After the convoy arrived at the designated warehouse and unloaded the aid, several individuals were mistakenly – as later became apparent – identified as armed persons. Those individuals entered vehicles that began travelling south from the warehouse, deviating from the route that the organization had coordinated in advance with the IDF. Accordingly, and in light of the assessment that Hamas operatives had taken control of the convoy before its arrival at the warehouse, the IDF mistakenly believed that the vehicles contained Hamas military operatives and therefore struck the vehicles.

The examination also found that, during the sequence of events described above, IDF personnel attempted to contact WCK representatives in order to verify their assessment that the people in the vehicles were indeed not members of WCK. These attempts, made during the approximately half-hour period in which the convoy vehicles were tracked on the understanding that they contained Hamas operatives, were unsuccessful.

After the findings of the initial examination were presented to the previous Chief of the General Staff, shortly after the incident, and in light of the grave consequences of the incident, he decided to remove from their positions the Brigade Humanitarian Assistance Officer (an officer with the rank of Major), and the Brigade Chief of Staff (a reserve officer with the rank of Colonel). Additionally, the Brigade Commander (an officer with the rank of Colonel), the Commander of the 162nd Division (an officer with the rank of Brigadier General), and the Commander of the Southern Command (an officer with the rank of Major General), were formally reprimanded.

In light of prior professional familiarity with one of the individuals involved in the incident, the Military Advocate General (MAG) refrained from personally making the decision in this case. The decision was therefore made by the Chief Military Prosecutor in the MAG Corps.

Following review of all findings of the factual assessment, it was determined that, notwithstanding serious failures in the process that led to the assessment that Hamas operatives were travelling in the vehicles, the decisions of the commanders did not raise reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct. This conclusion was reached in view of the sequence of suspicious indicators and the totality of the operational circumstances.

Accordingly, it was determined that there is no reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct that would justify the opening of a criminal investigation or the taking of additional measures against any of those involved in the incident, beyond those described above"