OTTAWA — The founder of the global relief charity whose workers were killed by Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip on Monday is pleading with Israel to start the “long journey to peace.”

José Andrés, a Spanish chef who founded the World Central Kitchen in 2010, penned an essay published in the New York Times today. 

He says the deaths of his seven colleagues are “the direct result” of Israeli policy, which “squeezed humanitarian aid to desperate levels.”

Israel bombed the workers’ three-vehicle convoy as they were leaving a warehouse in central Gaza after delivering more than 100 tonnes of food.

Jacob Flickinger, a 33-year-old dual Canadian-American citizen, was among the dead.

Restaurants in Acapulco, Mexico posted on social media in the wake of Flickinger’s death that he was among workers who brought relief to their neighbourhoods last fall after Hurricane Otis slammed into Mexico’s Pacific coast. 

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says she spoke to her Israeli counterpart Tuesday evening and asked for a full investigation and explanation of the aid workers’ deaths. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 3, 2024.

The Canadian Press