Ireland’s Tánaiste, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence Micheál Martin has spoken out after seven humanitarian workers were killed in Gaza on Monday, April 1.
“Appalled by the deaths of humanitarian workers in an Israeli strike, killed providing lifesaving aid to the people of Gaza.
“Full accountability is needed.
“This again underlines the need for an immediate ceasefire to protect civilians and allow full humanitarian access.”
Appalled by the deaths of humanitarian workers in an Israeli strike, killed providing lifesaving aid to the people of Gaza.
— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) April 2, 2024
Full accountability is needed.
This again underlines the need for an immediate ceasefire to protect civilians and allow full humanitarian access.
Last week, the Tanaiste confirmed that Ireland will be intervening in the case initiated by South Africa against Israel under the Genocide Convention at the International Court of Justice.
World Central Kitchen (WCK), an organization that provides meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises, confirmed on Tuesday that seven members of its team were killed in an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) strike in Gaza.
The seven killed are from Australia, Poland, the UK, a dual citizen of the US and Canada, and Palestine, WCK said.
Early reports on social media on Monday night claimed that one of the people who was killed was Irish, but Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs has said it has not been made aware of any Irish citizen caught up in an attack on aid workers in Gaza.
WCK said in a statement on Tuesday that its team "was traveling in a deconflicted zone in two armored cars branded with the WCK logo and a soft skin vehicle.
"Despite coordinating movements 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."
WCK said that it is pausing its operations immediately in the region and will be making decisions about the future of its work soon.
On Tuesday morning, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, a spokesperson for the IDF, said that he had spoken with WCK founder Chef José Andrés and "expressed the IDF's deepest condolences to the entire World Central Kitchen family."
In a post in Hebrew on X later on Tuesday, Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu said: "Unfortunately, in the last day there was a tragic case of our forces unintentionally hitting innocent people in the Gaza Strip.
"It happens in war, we are checking it to the end, we are in contact with the governments, and we will do everything so that this thing does not happen again."
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