200 employees killed
But WCK stopped its work in the Gaza Strip after this drone bombing. A step that the Israeli army leadership must regret more than others. WCK was supposed to step in where the UN aid agency UNRWA had previously worked. She is accused of having sometimes worked with Hamas. WCK began providing food to the Gaza Strip and to evacuated border residents in Israel immediately after Hamas’ murderous attack on Israel’s border towns on October 7th. Over 1,200 people were murdered, raped and kidnapped by Hamas terrorists.
Other aid organizations are also reconsidering their operations in Gaza: “The news of the attack is horrific – a nightmare come true for us,” said Soraya Ali, spokeswoman for the organization Save the Children. “More than 200 aid workers have been killed in this conflict, making it one of the worst conflicts for aid workers in recent history,” said US National Security Council Communications Director John Kirby.
Since the outbreak of war, supplying the civilian population in the Gaza Strip has been a crucial problem. Hamas repeatedly took control of the supply convoys. Where it was successfully circumvented, armed gangs seized the aid supplies for themselves. When the aid convoys were unloaded, panic and deaths occurred due to rushing crowds. Almost one and a half million people are currently stuck in a small area in the south near Rafah.
Eyewitnesses report that the markets there offer almost everything for everyday needs. Goods with labels identifying them as international aid donations. At 10 to 20 times the pre-war price and therefore unaffordable for most refugees.
The distress in the north
The need is even greater in the north. Fighting between Hamas and Israel is currently breaking out here again. But around 200,000 people still live here. Completely cut off from aid deliveries from the south. Aid packages dropped with parachutes partly fall into the sea and partly fall back into the hands of the clans and Hamas. Five people were killed by a pallet whose parachute had not detached.
WCK was in the process of opening a new sea route with US help. With a floating jetty on pontoons. A first delivery from Cyprus arrived last week. A second turned back at sea after the tragic incident on Tuesday. Now Israel’s army is forced to open its own delivery routes to the north.