Seven World Central Kitchen Team Members Killed in Gaza

The organization has ceased operations in the region

Undated photo of chef José Andrés in Gaza Photo courtesy of World Central Kitchen

The culinary world is reeling with the news that seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) team members were killed in a bombing raid in Gaza yesterday. As word broke throughout social media, WCK confirmed the news on its site:

World Central Kitchen is devastated to confirm seven members of our team have been killed in an IDF strike 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.

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.

“This is not only an attack against WCK, this is an attack on humanitarian organizations showing up in the most dire of situations where food is being used as a weapon of war. This is unforgivable,” said World Central Kitchen CEO Erin Gore.

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

“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,” said Erin.

The IDF says it is “carrying out an in-depth examination at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of this tragic incident.”

World Central Kitchen is pausing our operations immediately in the region. We will be making decisions about the future of our work soon.

WCK’s founder and spokesperson, José Andrés, called the WCK people, “angels” in an Instagram post, adding, “They are not faceless…they are not nameless.”

In a two-minute statement posted to social media, IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said that he spoke with Andrés after the tragedy. He called WCK’s mission “noble”,and its work, “critical”. Hagari said that the IDF would be investigated by an independent and expert body. He said for the past few months the IDF has been working with WCK, adding that the NGO was one of the first that responded to the October 7th massacre in Israel.

Though WCK has not released the names of all of the workers killed, Poland’s foreign minister named Damian Sobol as one of the victims, adding, “our brave compatriot, Damian Sobol from the city of Przemyśl helped those in need in Gaza, where a humanitarian crisis is taking place.” The British government confirmed the deaths of the three British nationals but did not release names.

The Australian government also confirmed that 43-year-old Melbourne-native, Zomi Frankcom was one of the victims.

Karla Hoyos, chef/owner of Tacotomia in Miami, has worked with WCK in the past, providing humanitarian efforts in Puerto Rico and Ukraine among other assignments. The chef, who worked with both Sobol and Frankcom, posted a heartbreaking tribute to Frankcom on Instagram: “I still remember sitting in a room in Bangladesh practicing for hours before you had your interview to be the senior director of Asia for WCK , you were so nervous and I was trying my best to remind you that you were perfectly capable for the job. When they gave you the news that you got it, we planned to go together to Thailand and celebrate with a couple of cold beers.

“All you wanted to do was to help, to make the world a little better, to make an impact, to feed the needed. The world lost some of the best humans yesterday.”

The attack on WCK team members has started a chain of events that could worsen conditions for civilians in Gaza. MSNBC reports that, not only has WCK suspended operations in the region, but that other relief organizations are pulling out of the area due to dangerous conditions.