Images show the aftermath of the Israeli air strike on the food aid convoy in southern Gaza.

A damaged vehicle bearing the World Central Kitchen logo was pictured along the Al-Rashid road, between Deir Al Balah and Khan Younis.

A warning that you may find these pictures from the scene distressing.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

The organisation was founded in 2010 by Michelin-star chef José Andrés. A US-based organisation, it aims to provide meals in the wake of humanitarian crises and national disasters.

In recent years Andrés met with Volodymyr Zelensky during a WCK mission to Ukraine. The organisation has also been present in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake in 2010, and in Puerto Rico in September 2017 when Hurricane Maria killed thousands.

They charity say they have served 42 million meals over 175 days in Gaza - working out roughly at 240,000 per day.

Last month, WCK was part of the first maritime humanitarian aid shipment mission to Gaza - in co-operation with the United Arab Emirates.

The BBC spoke to Andrés about his charity's mission to feed the hungry in Gaza. You can watch what he had to say below.

Hugo Bachega
Middle East correspondent, in Jerusalem

The overnight tragedy adds to the despair in Gaza as the Israeli war against Hamas nears its six-month mark, with nearly 33,000 Palestinians killed, according to the local authorities.

Charities say this is one of the most dangerous places for them to operate, with fighting making it virtually impossible for help to reach those who need it the most.

Half of the population face catastrophic levels of hunger, and famine is a possibility in the north in the coming weeks. The health system is on the verge of collapse, with some doctors unable to treat patients due to shortages of basic supplies. Some who have survived bombs may not survive hunger and disease.

Three-quarters of Gaza’s residents have been displaced, with most living in makeshift shelters or tents in squalid conditions, with scarce access to safe drinking water or food. At least half of the territory’s buildings have been damaged or destroyed, including hospitals, schools, mosques, UN facilities and warehouses with aid.

Very little aid is being allowed in, humanitarian agencies say, blaming Israel for creating bottlenecks to intentionally slow down the entry of basic supplies, weaponizing the delivery of aid – claims Israel denies.

Despite those chaotic conditions, aid workers – Palestinians and foreigners – continue to operate across Gaza. The work they do is vital amid a deepening crisis. If it stops, even more people are likely to die.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office says a new proposal for a Gaza truce and hostage release has been drafted and given to Hamas by negotiators in Cairo.

"As part of the talks, with the helpful mediation of Egypt, the mediators formulated an up-to-date proposal to be addressed by Hamas," his office says in a statement.

It adds that Israel expects the mediators to push Hamas harder in order to reach a deal.

"The State of Israel is continuing to make all necessary efforts for the release of the hostages from Hamas and their return to Israel," it says.

Image source, Israel Government

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has admitted an "unintentional" Israeli strike killed "innocent people" in Gaza, after seven people working for food aid charity World Central Kitchen were killed.

Speaking in Hebrew in a video message, he said: "Unfortunately, in the last 24 hours there was a tragic case of our forces unintentionally hitting innocent people in the Gaza Strip.

"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."

Image source, Reuters

World leaders have been reacting to the death of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers who were killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza.

Israel has promised to conduct a thorough review into what happened.

• Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the death of Australian aid worker Lalzawmi "Zomi" Frankcom was a "tragedy that should never have occurred" and calls for "full accountability".
• UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says he is “shocked and saddened", adding "clearly there are questions that need to be answered". British nationals are reported to have been killed.
• Poland’s Foreign Minister Radek Sikorksi says he is personally asking for an “urgent explanation” from the Israeli ambassador Yacov Livne into reports that a Pole was among those killed.
• The White House says it is "heartbroken and deeply troubled by the strike". US National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson urges Israel to “swiftly investigate what happened".
• President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, pays tribute to the aid workers who lost their lives and sends her “deepest condolences to their families and friends”.

Image source, Getty Images

Juliette Touma, communications director for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugee (UNRWA) and has raised concerns about disruption of getting aid to the northern part of Gaza.

"Children are dying of hunger," she tells BBC News. "Any organisation which delivers assistance to people in Gaza is key.

"Any disruption will have severe consequences on a population which is already going through quite a lot."

Her comments come as two US-based charities - World Central Kitchen (WCK) and the American Near East Refugee Aid (Anera) - say they are freezing operations in Gaza following last night's fatal strike.

"We need to coordinate with the Israel authorities. On three different occasions we have had our convoys hit by Israeli forces," she adds.

Image source, Reuters

Cyprus's President Nikos Christodoulides says global leaders must "double down" on efforts to get aid into Gaza following the death of seven food aid workers in the enclave.

The World Central Kitchen team had just unloaded food aid brought to Gaza via the maritime route from Cyprus when their convoy came under attack.

"The Amalthea initiative will continue as long as the humanitarian needs are there," he says, referring to the maritime route which brings aid to Gaza via Cyprus.

His comments follow a meeting with European Parliament President Roberta Metsola today, urging a swift investigation into the deaths of the seven World Central Kitchen aid workers.

Where were the damaged cars filmed?published at 12:12 British Summer Time 2 April 2024

12:12 BST 2 April 2024

Image source, .

The World Central Kitchen (WCK) food aid charity says its aid workers were travelling in three cars in Gaza. BBC Verify has been studying images of three heavily-damaged vehicles.

The geolocation was done by matching scenes in the photos with satellite images.

One image, for example, shows a Toyota Hilux with a jagged hole in its roof, bearing the WCK logo. A low wall, a pylon, a section of woodland and two distinct roofs can be seen in the background.

BBC Verify has matched these features with a part of the coastal road, Al-Rashid, in central Gaza.

Separate photos showing a different Toyota Hilux depict palm trees, a distinctive archway and a tall red roofed building in the background. These features place the SUV about 800m further north on the same road, West of Deir al-Balah.

A third vehicle is in a patch of open-ground to the south, about 100m off this road.

All three vehicles are spread across a distance of just under 2.5kms (1.5 miles).

The WCK says its convoy was hit as it was leaving the Deir al-Balah warehouse.

Image source, Reuters

Deadly convoy attack is a disaster for Israel's imagepublished at 12:00 British Summer Time 2 April 2024

12:00 BST 2 April 2024

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent

If an Israeli air strike was responsible for taking the lives of seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers - and the evidence available so far points in that direction - then this is a disaster: for WCK, the people of Gaza, and Israel’s image.

As Israel moves to ban UNRWA - the main UN organisation responsible for the Welfare of Palestinian (UNWRA) in the Gaza Strip - it has come to rely heavily on other humanitarian organisations.

The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused UNWRA of employing more than 2,000 members of Hamas.

WCK, which has been on the ground for months and which had just brought in a second 400 tonne shipment of aid by sea from Cyprus, is playing an increasingly prominent and important role in preventing Gaza from sliding into famine.

Israel has trumpeted the role of WCK and other aid organisations as proof UNRWA is no longer needed.

At a recent briefing, Israeli diplomats said WCK had “come out of nowhere and has become around 13% of the food story inside Gaza".

It also says it is doing everything in its power to facilitate the distribution of aid throughout the Gaza Strip.

Last night’s deadly attack on the WCK convoy will make it harder for Israel to sustain that narrative.

Last week, the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) published what it said showed access constraints on humanitarian aid in Gaza.

The map included several marked “high risk areas” for aid convoys, one of which covered the coastal road south of the city of Deir al-Balah, where the aid workers were killed.

The UN said the areas were “gathering points of people awaiting or taking relief supplies, where civilians and aid workers have been placed at risk”.

The map described the al-Rashid coastal road as “a lengthy and overcrowded route” that was “designated for the passage of humanitarian aid by the Israeli authorities”.

World Central Kitchen were part of the maritime corridor initiative, and used the passage to deliver humanitarian aid to Gazans.

David Gritten
BBC News

Image source, Reuters

The seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen are sadly not the first to have been killed during the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which began almost six months ago.

“Nowhere else are so many aid workers killed. There must be an immediate ceasefire. Enough now,” wrote Jan Egeland, the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council and a former UN humanitarian chief following Monday’s deadly air strike.

Before the incident, at least 196 aid workers had been killed in the Palestinian territories since the start of the war, according to a tally by the Aid Worker Security Database, external, which records major incidents of violence against humanitarian personnel.

Last year, when 161 aid workers were reported killed, was the deadliest year ever recorded, according to the AWSD’s database.

Most of those killed during the war worked for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), which runs the biggest aid operation in Gaza.

UNRWA said in a report on Monday, external that 173 of its staff members had been killed, including while in the line of duty. It added that 353 “incidents impacting UNRWA premises and the people inside them” had been reported during the war, including “at least 52 incidents of military use and/or interference at UNRWA premises”.

Image source, Reuters

UN official Martin Griffiths says he is "outraged" by the killings.

"They were heroes, killed while trying to feed starving people," he wrote on social media, external.

"All this talk about ceasefires and still this war steals the best of us. The actions of those behind it are indefensible."

Image source, OLIVIER MATTHYS/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

The EU's foreign policy chief has paid tribute to the World Central Kitchen staff killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza.

"I condemn the attack and urge an investigation," Josep Borrell wrote in a post on X, external.

He added that the incident shows the United Nations Security Council resolution "must immediately be implemented".

Foreign Secretary David Cameron said the news of the fatal air strike is "deeply distressing" and that the UK government was working to find out what happened.

"British Nationals are reported to have been killed, we are urgently working to verify this information and will provide full support to their families," he said.

World Central Kitchen said a number of nationalities were among the dead - including from the UK.

"These were people who were working to deliver life-saving aid to those who desperately need it. It is essential that humanitarian workers are protected and able to carry out their work.

"We have called on Israel to immediately investigate and provide a full, transparent explanation of what happened."

Similarly, PM Rishi Sunak says he is "shocked and saddened" by incident, saying "clearly there are questions that need to be answered".

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society has provided some more details about the recovery of the killed aid workers' bodies.

The aid organisation says all seven were recovered in a "challenging operation spanning several hours" in Deir al-Balah this morning, after being targeted yesterday evening in vehicles owned by the Word Central Kitchen charity.

Two of the bodies were initially missing before being recovered by Red Crescent workers, the statement on social media says, external.

All seven were initially taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, then moved to a medical facility in Rafah in preparation for evacuation through the border crossing with Egypt in the south of Gaza.

Image source, IDF

IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari has just issued a video statement.

He expresses his condolences for the killing of seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers in Gaza, and says that the army is investigating their "tragic death".

Hagari says he had sent "the deepest condolences" of the Israeli army to WCK founder Jose Anders, and expresses "sincere sorrow" to Israel's allies who are helping with aid operations in the Palestinian enclave.

Israeli forces have been working closely with WCK to assist them in "fulfilling their noble mission" of delivering aid to Gaza, he says.

"The work of WCK is critical; they are on the frontlines of humanity," he says. "We will get to the bottom of this and we will share our findings transparently."

A video released in late March by the World Central Kitchen (WCK) shows the Australian aid worker Lalzawmi "Zomi" Frankcom inside a food tent in Gaza.

In the WCK video released on 25 March, Frankcom is seen at what is said to be the organisation's Deir Al-Balah kitchen.

She appears alongside head chef Olivier Chastelain de Belleroche showcasing prepared ingredients.

Tributes continue to be paid to Melbourne-born Lalzawmi "Zomi" Frankcom who was killed in the suspected Israeli air strike.

We have had some more reaction from Australia's foreign minister who expressed "overwhelming sadness" on behalf of the government.

Senator Penny Wong says: "Her tireless work to improve the lives of others should never have cost Ms Frankcom her own.

"The government expresses its deepest sympathies to her family and loved ones, just as we mourn all civilian deaths in this conflict."

Senator Wong says the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is supporting Frankcom's family.

Absence of government in Gaza fuels chaotic environmentpublished at 09:38 British Summer Time 2 April 2024

09:38 BST 2 April 2024

Jeremy Bowen
Reporting from northern Israel

Gaza is highly dangerous and I think this terrible incident is a function of the reluctance of occupying power Israel to institute mechanisms of law and order; to try and think hard about governance, which might involve difficult political consequences back in Israel itself.

In other words, it seems to be - and remember we are not allowed into Gaza to report ourselves - a chaotic environment.

When people like those aid workers move around in there they do what’s called co-ordination with the Israelis and inform them of their planned movements, their vehicles, their staff.

But, my understanding from talking to aid organisations who have been operating there for months - during which many, many Palestinian aid workers have been killed - is even though they co-ordinate with Israel they still get attacked.

So when there is an absence of governance, an absence of law and order, Israel going in and out and doing their military stuff and not doing other things, these kind of incidents are, sadly, going to happen because this is such a nightmarish environment.