Three Britons among seven aid workers killed by Israeli strike on Gaza food convoy

Three British citizens killed in an IDF airstrike on an aid mission travelling through Gaza have been named as Rishi Sunak demanded a “thorough and transparent investigation” from Israel.

James Henderson, John Chapman and James Kirby were among seven aid workers employed by charity World Central Kitchen (WCK) who died in the attack on the three-vehicle convoy on Monday.

On Tuesday evening, Mr Sunak telephoned Benjamin Netanyahu to say that “far too many aid workers and ordinary civilians have lost their lives in Gaza” and that the situation there is “increasingly intolerable”.

The White House said it was also “outraged” by the incident, which killed workers and volunteers WCK, a charity that was supplying food to starving Palestinians.

The charity had just offloaded 100 tonnes of food aid from a barge which sailed from Cyprus when Israel attacked their vehicle convoy overnight on Monday on Gaza’s coastal road in Deir al-Balah. It said on Tuesday it was pausing all work in the occupied Palestinian territory.

The three British nationals killed were named by the BBC.

The other victims were Zomi Frankcom, 43, an Australian; Damian Sobol, 35, a Polish citizen; Saif Issam Abu Taha, 27, a Palestinian driver.

WCK said its convoy of three vehicles was hit despite the charity coordinating on its movements with the Israeli military, and the fact that two of the cars hit were clearly marked as aid vehicles.

Foreign secretary David Cameron called on Israel to “immediately investigate”, adding that the government wanted “a full, transparent explanation of what happened”.

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

Mr Sobol started volunteering with WCK in the border town of Przemysl at the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine where he was helping feed refugees. He joined WCK’s response to the earthquakes in Turkey. More recently he started working for WCK in Gaza.

Nate Mook, the former chief executive of WCK who first hired Ms Frankcom, described her as a “shining star” and “gift to the world” who had dedicated her life to helping people. “The news of her death, the killing of seven members of the World Central Kitchen is devastating for their families, friends and the world,” he told The Independent.

“It is unfathomable that they are not with us any more. They were all truly dedicated to their work, trying to do what they could in the most desperate and dangerous of situations.”

Mr Netanyahu said the killings were “unintended”.

“This happens in wartime,” he said in a video message. “We are thoroughly looking into it, are in contact with the governments [of the foreigners among the dead] and will do everything to ensure it does not happen again.”

Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military’s top spokesperson, said officials were reviewing the incident at the highest level. He said an independent investigation would be launched that “will help us reduce the risk of such an event from occurring again”.

WCK founder, celebrity chef Jose Andres, said the deaths were a “tragedy”.

“I am heartbroken and grieving for their families and friends and our whole WCK family,” Andres wrote in a statement. “These are people – angels – I served alongside in Ukraine, Gaza, Turkey, Morocco, Bahamas, Indonesia.

“They are not faceless… they are not nameless. The Israeli government needs to stop this indiscriminate killing. It needs to stop restricting humanitarian aid, stop killing civilians and aid workers, and stop using food as a weapon. No more innocent lives lost. Peace starts with our shared humanity. It needs to start now.”

It is not the first time Israel has been accused of bombing humanitarian aid convoys and distribution centres. The UN’s Palestinian refugee agency told The Independent a tank shell hit one of its aid convoys in February along the same coastal road.

The agency said that a supply distribution centre was also hit in March, and convoys had come under Israeli fire in December.

Alicia Kearns, a Conservative MP and the chair of the foreign affairs committee, said that there was still no explanation for the January bombing of the Medical Aid for Palestine complex in a declared safe zone which had also been deconflicted directly with the Israeli military. Four British doctors who were there at the time only just survived.

She called for a “thorough and swift investigation” into the latest incident. “And also [into] what impact it will have on the ability of the maritime corridor to function given it is World Central Kitchen who were receiving and distributing the desperately needed aid,” she tweeted. “Humanitarian agencies must be given the assurances they need that their people will be protected.”

Francesca Albanese, a UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, called for sanctions on Israel. “On the day Israel bombed a foreign embassy in a third country [Syria], it also killed WCK humanitarian workers. Israel is crossing every possible red line, still with full impunity. Sanctions now. Indictments now.”

It came hours after Israeli troops ended a devastating two-week raid on Gaza’s largest hospital, al-Shifa, leaving the facility a torched, gutted shell.

Footage showed al-Shifa’s main buildings had been reduced to a charred mess, with what looked like flattened bodies and body parts smashed in the ground, which had been chewed up by bulldozers.

Israel claimed it launched the raid on the north Gaza hospital because senior Hamas operatives had regrouped there and were planning attacks. After the troops withdrew, hundreds of Palestinians returned to search for lost loved ones or examine the damage – with Palestinian journalists reporting people had been killed by Israeli soldiers.

Among the dead were Ahmed Maqadma and his mother – both doctors at al-Shifa and his cousin, said Dr Ghassan Abu Sitta, a Palestinian-British doctor who volunteered at al-Shifa and other hospitals during the first months of the war before returning to Britain. 

The fate of the three had been unknown since they talked by phone with family as they tried to leave al-Shifa nearly a week ago and the line suddenly went dead. On Monday, relatives found their bodies with gunshot wounds about a block from the hospital, said Abu Sitta, who is in touch with the family.