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Founder of World Central Kitchen Says Several Workers Killed in Gaza Airstrike
The disaster relief nonprofit has become a crucial source of food for desperate Gazans. The Israeli military said it was investigating.

International aid workers from World Central Kitchen, a disaster relief nonprofit that has become a crucial source of food for desperate Gazans, were killed in an airstrike in Gaza, according to José Andrés, the chef who founded the organization.

Mr. Andrés said on the X platform that “several of our sisters and brothers” were killed in the airstrike, which was reported late Monday in Deir al-Balah, a city in central Gaza. He said the Israeli military had carried out the strike, though that could not be immediately confirmed.

Graphic video footage from the aftermath showed five dead bodies, three of which had passports on their chests identifying them as citizens of Poland, Australia and Britain. Some of the victims wore protective gear with visible World Central Kitchen patches. The nationalities of the other two could not be immediately confirmed.

The Israeli military said in a statement early Tuesday that it was “conducting a thorough review at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of this tragic incident.”

The military said it “makes extensive efforts to enable the safe delivery of humanitarian aid, and has been working closely with W.C.K. in their vital efforts to provide food and humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia said that the country’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade was “urgently investigating” the reports that an Australian aid worker had been killed.

“I’m very concerned about the loss of life that is occurring in Gaza,” he said. “My government has supported a sustainable cease-fire, we’ve called for the release of hostages, and there have been far too many innocent lives — Palestinian and Israeli — lost during the Gaza-Hamas conflict.”

World Central Kitchen has become a key organization in the perilous, politically fraught efforts to distribute humanitarian aid to desperate Gazans. Israel has severely limited the aid that reaches Gaza through land crossings, leaving shipments by sea as an increasingly important means of delivering food to the enclave. A vessel carrying 400 tons of food left Cyprus for Gaza on Saturday.  

The Israeli military has said that it provided security and coordination to the organization in prior operations.

World Central Kitchen said in a statement on Monday that it was “aware of reports” that its staff members were killed “in an I.D.F. attack while working to support our humanitarian food delivery efforts in Gaza,” referring to the Israel Defense Forces.

“This is a tragedy,” the organization said. “Humanitarian aid workers and civilians should never be a target. Ever.”

Mr. Andrés said in his social media post that 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.”

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30 minutes ago, bolverk said:

Founder of World Central Kitchen Says Several Workers Killed in Gaza Airstrike
The disaster relief nonprofit has become a crucial source of food for desperate Gazans. The Israeli military said it was investigating.

International aid workers from World Central Kitchen, a disaster relief nonprofit that has become a crucial source of food for desperate Gazans, were killed in an airstrike in Gaza, according to José Andrés, the chef who founded the organization.

Mr. Andrés said on the X platform that “several of our sisters and brothers” were killed in the airstrike, which was reported late Monday in Deir al-Balah, a city in central Gaza. He said the Israeli military had carried out the strike, though that could not be immediately confirmed.

Graphic video footage from the aftermath showed five dead bodies, three of which had passports on their chests identifying them as citizens of Poland, Australia and Britain. Some of the victims wore protective gear with visible World Central Kitchen patches. The nationalities of the other two could not be immediately confirmed.

The Israeli military said in a statement early Tuesday that it was “conducting a thorough review at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of this tragic incident.”

The military said it “makes extensive efforts to enable the safe delivery of humanitarian aid, and has been working closely with W.C.K. in their vital efforts to provide food and humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia said that the country’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade was “urgently investigating” the reports that an Australian aid worker had been killed.

“I’m very concerned about the loss of life that is occurring in Gaza,” he said. “My government has supported a sustainable cease-fire, we’ve called for the release of hostages, and there have been far too many innocent lives — Palestinian and Israeli — lost during the Gaza-Hamas conflict.”

World Central Kitchen has become a key organization in the perilous, politically fraught efforts to distribute humanitarian aid to desperate Gazans. Israel has severely limited the aid that reaches Gaza through land crossings, leaving shipments by sea as an increasingly important means of delivering food to the enclave. A vessel carrying 400 tons of food left Cyprus for Gaza on Saturday.  

The Israeli military has said that it provided security and coordination to the organization in prior operations.

World Central Kitchen said in a statement on Monday that it was “aware of reports” that its staff members were killed “in an I.D.F. attack while working to support our humanitarian food delivery efforts in Gaza,” referring to the Israel Defense Forces.

“This is a tragedy,” the organization said. “Humanitarian aid workers and civilians should never be a target. Ever.”

Mr. Andrés said in his social media post that 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.”

Horrible. 
 

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Meanwhile, it's always a sign that you're on the right side when you start passing laws to eject more media from your country. Clock is ticking, Bibi, enjoy prison.

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-04-01/ty-article/netanyahu-pushes-ahead-law-for-immediate-shutdown-of-al-jazeera-in-israel/0000018e-99f0-de2c-afff-bbf8be670000

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Posted (edited)

Haaretz reporting three drone strikes, knocking out three vehicles in sequence as the aid workers fled from one to the other. The convoy was travelling on an approved route that had been coordinated with IDF. Israeli security sources say that they observed an armed individual travelling with the convoy earlier in the day, before the convoy stopped at their supply warehouse. The vehicle that was carrying the armed individual was not part of the convoy when it was struck. WCK suspending their Gaza operations, and the ship they had sailing from Cyprus with aid has turned around.

Here is a google translate image lifted from twatter.

image.thumb.png.c517cd19a40fe964355f7b8aecfb5073.png

 

Edited by Anastasis
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1 hour ago, hookem2010 said:

Is Israel trying to completely get rid of all the goodwill and sympathy built up immediately following the Hamas attacks? Because they're doing a pretty good job of it.

Yeah, this is going to probably hurt their cause more than anything they have done to date.  Going to get a ton of negative publicity.  They fucked this up royally.

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The cynical part of me wonders if IDF did this on purpose to impose more suffering in Gaza knowing that WCK would limit or pull out of Gaza after these attacks. At the same time, I agree with other posters that this is going to do more damage in their PR battle. This pisses me off right good as WCK is one of the best and most effective NGOs out there.

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3 minutes ago, royiv said:

The cynical part of me wonders if IDF did this on purpose to impose more suffering in Gaza knowing that WCK would limit or pull out of Gaza after these attacks. At the same time, I agree with other posters that this is going to do more damage in their PR battle. This pisses me off right good as WCK is one of the best and most effective NGOs out there.

Well, that would be a war crime. But hey, what pause has our country given Israel up until this point? They seem determined to do whatever they like in Gaza with little consequence from the international community. 

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14 minutes ago, mdmost said:

Well, that would be a war crime. But hey, what pause has our country given Israel up until this point? They seem determined to do whatever they like in Gaza with little consequence from the international community. 

Bibi laughs at your war crimes.

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Posted (edited)

I think it was a horrible screw up. A screw up that was a result of Israel not being capable of completing their war goals. This war, where they attack Hamas in a populated area (where Hamas actually is), and chase all the people away to another area, where Hamas remnants then follow to regroup and prepare for the next attack, is a stupid, failed idea, and events like the WCK are inevitable. 
 
Israel didn’t have the troops and willingness to really eradicate Hamas, in the time frame they have. They are trying to be clever, using advanced weaponry, where something closer to the Red Army taking Berlin was needed (and if you don’t have the manpower and will to do that, you need another strategic goal). 
 
Looks like Hamas will be the winner, because Israel’s plan couldn’t achieve their goal, and Hamas will take over the West Bank in short order. I think things are about to really get ugly. 
 
(PS- I think they need a new government, because a new strategic plan is needed, and new goals. The current one is a failure and sticking with it will just waste more lives). 

Edited by statsman
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31 minutes ago, statsman said:

I think it was a horrible screw up. A screw up that was a result of Israel not being capable of completing their war goals. This war, where they attack Hamas in a populated area (where Hamas actually is), and chase all the people away to another area, where Hamas remnants then follow to regroup and prepare for the next attack, is a stupid, failed idea, and events like the WCK are inevitable. 
 
Israel didn’t have the troops and willingness to really eradicate Hamas, in the time frame they have. They are trying to be clever, using advanced weaponry, where something closer to the Red Army taking Berlin was needed (and if you don’t have the manpower and will to do that, you need another strategic goal). 
 
Looks like Hamas will be the winner, because Israel’s plan couldn’t achieve their goal, and Hamas will take over the West Bank in short order. I think things are about to really get ugly. 
 
(PS- I think they need a new government, because a new strategic plan is needed, and new goals. The current one is a failure and sticking with it will just waste more lives). 

The WCK vehicles were coordinating with the IDF, following an IDF approved route, and were in a de-conflicted area.

You're embarrassing yourself by bending over backwards this far by trying to rationalize this as a mere mistake. Seriously, fucking stop. It's gross.

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33 minutes ago, statsman said:

I think it was a horrible screw up. A screw up that was a result of Israel not being capable of completing their war goals. 

This.  They didn't intentionally target a Jose Andres aid convoy.  Anyone in a decision making capacity realizes what a massive PR hit this is.  This will be mainstream news all over the US tonight.    If you want to say gross negligence by being way too loose with precision weapons and not having procedures in place to prevent this, I agree, but I bet heads are rolling within the IDF as they realize the ramifications of this kind of negative publicity when they were already starting to lose the PR battle in the West

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3 minutes ago, Brian Fantana said:

The WCK vehicles were coordinating with the IDF, following an IDF approved route, and were in a de-conflicted area.

You're embarrassing yourself by bending over backwards this far by trying to rationalize this as a mere mistake. Seriously, fucking stop. It's gross.

This is my usual approach- as a rule, I am slow to attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity. I apply this rule to all factions. 

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Just now, statsman said:

This is my usual approach- as a rule, I am slow to attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity. I apply this rule to all factions. 

Yeah that's fair enough I guess. It just doesn't stand on its own two legs in my estimation. Especially when you consider they've been hitting foreign aid and the press for 6 months. At some point it stops being an accident.

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19 minutes ago, statsman said:

This is my usual approach- as a rule, I am slow to attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity. I apply this rule to all factions. 

Even if it is a mistake - and I agree it's unlikely someone literally said/thought, "Oh look it's perhaps the highest profile aid organization operating in Gaza, let's light'em up!" - it's emblematic of so much more. That's the point.

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1 minute ago, gmr548 said:

Even if it is a mistake - and I agree it's unlikely someone literally said/thought, "Oh look it's perhaps the highest profile aid organization operating in Gaza, let's light'em up!" - it's emblematic of so much more. That's the point.

The fact that while it being a mistake is far more likely, we can't RULE OUT it being an intentional strike to increase suffering in Gaza, highlights what a shitshow this is.

I sympathize with Israel's broad cause of "having a safe refuge for jews."  I think Hamas is shit, and a military response after Oct 7th was warranted.  But Israel has followed the "how to lose all legitimacy and sympathy" script to the letter.  Fuck that shit.  Want to become the monsters that you're fighting?  Then fuck right off.

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The humanitarian in me has to believe it was unintentional because the Israelis are supposed to be the good guys in all this. Still, as pointed out, carelessly killing aid workers (running count even before this is around 200) is emblematic of the continued disregard for international law and human life displayed by the IDF. And, of course, the cynic in me can't say it wasn't unintentional.

Either way, it's certainly having a specific effect.

 

After Strike, Aid Groups in Gaza Are More Fearful Than Ever
“Gaza right now is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a humanitarian worker,” a spokeswoman for Save the Children said after a strike killed World Central Kitchen workers.

Aid groups in Gaza said on Tuesday that they were more concerned than ever about the safety of their staff members there after seven World Central Kitchen workers were killed in an airstrike, saying that the deaths underscored the growing challenges of meeting Palestinians’ basic needs.

Humanitarian workers have been killed throughout the war in Gaza. Since the war started, 176 workers for UNRWA, the United Nations body that provides aid to Palestinians, have been killed, including in the line of duty, said Juliette Touma, the agency’s director of communications. Several other aid groups say their staff members have been killed in airstrikes.

But the latest deaths have raised new alarms. World Central Kitchen paused its operations there on Tuesday, saying it had coordinated the movements of the convoy that was struck with the Israeli military. The military said it was investigating the episode.

As they assessed their future plans, aid groups urged the Israeli authorities to adhere to the international laws that protect humanitarian workers.

“Everybody feels endangered now,” said Michael Capponi, the founder of Global Empowerment Mission, a nonprofit aid group distributing tents, sleeping bags, medical equipment and food to Palestinians in Gaza.

Mr. Capponi said he was reconsidering his plans to travel to Gaza next week. Some staff members, who had been communicating daily with the World Central Kitchen workers who died, “basically want to pack up and go home now,” he said, though there were no firm plans for them to leave.

“There need to be guarantees to the international N.G.O. community that we are safe doing this work that we do, which is critical,” Mr. Capponi added. He said it was unacceptable that aid workers were killed even after going through the United Nations’ “deconfliction” process, which is supposed to protect humanitarian workers by informing the military about their activities.

Tess Ingram, a UNICEF spokeswoman temporarily based in Gaza, said the notification system that was meant to keep workers safe was not functioning, leaving them vulnerable.

“It underscores what life is like here in Gaza, not just for aid workers but for everybody,” she said. “There’s nowhere safe, even when you do everything right.”

She added that the strike had broader implications for humanitarian groups’ ability to provide food aid. World Central Kitchen was not only feeding Gazans directly, it was also supplying hospitals with meals as well, she said.

Ms. Ingram said she hoped that the strike would “push the world to recognize that what is happening here is not OK.”

Aseel Baidoun, a spokeswoman for Medical Aid for Palestinians, a British group, said her organization was concerned about the safety of its next medical mission to Gaza, slated for later this week. Several members of an aid team were injured in an Israeli strike in January, the group said.

“We thought that armored cars and deconfliction processes would actually protect doctors,” said Ms. Baidoun, who is based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. “But now we don’t know how to protect our missions and our colleagues.”

Save the Children, which distributes food, water, medical supplies and toiletries in Gaza, also urged the parties of the conflict to adhere to the international laws protecting humanitarian workers. The group said a local staff member was killed in an Israeli airstrike in December.

“The news of the attack is horrific — it’s a nightmare come true for us,” said Soraya Ali, a spokeswoman for the group. “We know unfortunately that Gaza right now is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a humanitarian worker.”

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Just now, bolverk said:

The humanitarian in me has to believe it was unintentional because the Israelis are supposed to be the good guys in all this. Still, as pointed out, carelessly killing aid workers (running count even before this is around 200) is emblematic of the continued disregard for international law and human life displayed by the IDF. And, of course, the cynic in me can't say it wasn't unintentional.

Occam's razor says it is unintentional because it would be an absolutely idiotic military strategy otherwise considering the need for western support.  The PR hit from this incident will likely be worse than a wayward bomb hitting a school and killing 100 elementary kids.  It's going to be a massive news story. Everyone knows Jose Andres.  Voters on both sides of the aisle go to his restaurants.  There are probably large donors on both sides of the aisle that donate to this specific aid organization.  Hell, Andres could probably request and obtain a sit down with Biden this week over this incident if he wants.  It's a high profile concrete example of what Israel critics have been saying about the way they are conducting this war that can't be easily explained away.  I'm not going to be surprised at all if we look back at this months from now and see this as a turning point in this conflict.

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Posted (edited)
3 minutes ago, Skipper said:

Occam's razor says it is unintentional because it would be an absolutely idiotic military strategy otherwise considering the need for western support.

Occam's razor also said it's insane to think that the very group that made the crime of genocide "a thing" in global consciousness is actively and openly pursuing a campaign and goal of genocide, but here we are.

Is a mistake the most LIKELY explanation?  Yeah.  But can you categorically rule out a purposeful strike meant to terrorize (and thus limit) aid to civilians, in furtherance of an Israeli goal to maximize civilian suffering?  Nope. You can't rule that out.  Which means that the current state of Israel - both as-governed and as the people wish (the polling backs this up) - is shit.

Edited by Brisketexan
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Posted (edited)

Innocents being killed is what makes all wars so tragic. Innocents being killed in a war that you prosecute while knowing you can’t win can be a crime. 
 
I have been (am) on the side of Israel, in this conflict, Hamas being a monstrous and illegitimate force. Eradicating Hamas is a worthwhile goal. I don’t believe Israel has a strategy that can accomplish that goal. It’s not enough to set a goal (eradicate Hamas), apply all your resources (call up all the reservists) and say you have a strategy. You have to evaluate whether your resources are enough. Clearly, they aren’t. Israel should have done a lot more thinking and planning, and less reacting. They have Hamas, they have Hezbollah, they have the West Bank and they have Iran all to deal with. 
 
(I confess my shame at not realizing this until now, when it was clearly a losing strategy in November.)
 
No one (except Iran) wants to hear that Hamas wins. I’m afraid that’s what happens when you pick a losing strategy. 

Edited by statsman
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Posted (edited)
8 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Occam's razor also said it's insane to think that the very group that made the crime of genocide "a thing" in global consciousness is actively and openly pursuing a campaign and goal of genocide, but here we are.

Is a mistake the most LIKELY explanation?  Yeah.  But can you categorically rule out a purposeful strike meant to terrorize (and thus limit) aid to civilians, in furtherance of an Israeli goal to maximize civilian suffering?  Nope. You can't rule that out.  Which means that the current state of Israel - both as-governed and as the people wish (the polling backs this up) - is shit.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

If you want to convince me the IDF are targeting civilians, I think it would be stupid, for lots of reasons even down to the point of its just a waste of ammo. However, I am sure there is some of that. I understand the logic, there are Israelis who have a burning hate for Palestinians. I would not be surprised or shocked.

If you think Israelis have a burning hate for aid convoys and want to destroy them, and they have no idea of the strategic implications of said targeting, then you've lost the plot. Or more accurately, you are probably an antisemite.

I just rewatched the scene from Band of Brothers where Mularkey meets a Nazi soldier who grew up near him in Washington. They're shooting the shit, Mularkey leaves, next thing you hear is automatic gunfire (killing the unarmed German prisoners). We were still the good guys.

Edited by Thetexashammer
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6 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Occam's razor also said it's insane to think that the very group that made the crime of genocide "a thing" in global consciousness is actively and openly pursuing a campaign and goal of genocide, but here we are.

I think the Germans and Nazis had more to do with making genocide “a thing”. 

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11 minutes ago, Skipper said:

Occam's razor says it is unintentional because it would be an absolutely idiotic military strategy otherwise considering the need for western support.  The PR hit from this incident will likely be worse than a wayward bomb hitting a school and killing 100 elementary kids.  It's going to be a massive news story. Everyone knows Jose Andres.  Voters on both sides of the aisle go to his restaurants.  There are probably large donors on both sides of the aisle that donate to this specific aid organization.  Hell, Andres could probably request and obtain a sit down with Biden this week over this incident if he wants.  It's a high profile concrete example of what Israel critics have been saying about the way they are conducting this war that can't be easily explained away.  I'm not going to be surprised at all if we look back at this months from now and see this as a turning point in this conflict.

Go back up this same page and carefully read both Anastasis's screenshot (#3560) and Hank's link to the Bellincat analysis (#3561). The quotes and analyses are why I can't fully rule it out as unintentional. Was it ordered by the highest echelons of the IDF? Likely no.

Are there perhaps elements/individuals within the IDF who've been more than happy to either indiscriminately/recklessly kill (maybe even target) innocents? Well, we already have a fucking shitload of examples, including hostages themselves.

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Posted (edited)
11 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Occam's razor also said it's insane to think that the very group that made the crime of genocide "a thing" in global consciousness is actively and openly pursuing a campaign and goal of genocide, but here we are.

Is a mistake the most LIKELY explanation?  Yeah.  But can you categorically rule out a purposeful strike meant to terrorize (and thus limit) aid to civilians, in furtherance of an Israeli goal to maximize civilian suffering?  Nope. You can't rule that out. 

If their actual goal is a complete genocide of the inhabitants of the entire region, this would still be an idiotic decision in furtherance of that goal. Because of the barbaric nature of the October attack, Israel and their methods were going to get the benefit of the doubt from a majority of the West.  I mean pretty much anyone that was old enough to be emotionally impacted from 9/11 will probably always carry some level of bias when it comes to conflicts with Islamic terrorists. And collateral damage can be explained at some level when you have terrorists hiding among civilians.  But the lack of civilian aid was already a growing narrative and now the high profile nature of this attack is going to make a lot of people that might have given the IDF the benefit of the doubt question WTF is going on.  

The reality is a very small percentage of Americans pay as much attention to this conflict as those that read this thread.  But everyone that watches the news tonight will know about and remember this.

Edited by Skipper
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2 minutes ago, bolverk said:

Go back up this same page and carefully read both Anastasis's screenshot (#3560) and Hank's link to the Bellincat analysis (#3561). The quotes and analyses are why I can't fully rule it out as unintentional. Was it ordered by the highest echelons of the IDF? Likely no.

Are there perhaps elements/individuals within the IDF who've been more than happy to either indiscriminately/recklessly kill (maybe even target) innocents? Well, we already have a fucking shitload of examples, including hostages themselves.

This is also pretty much exactly what you get with an obligatory conscript army.

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11 minutes ago, Thetexashammer said:

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

If you want to convince me the IDF are targeting civilians, I think it would be stupid, for lots of reasons even down to the point of its just a waste of ammo. However, I am sure there is some of that. I understand the logic, there are Israelis who have a burning hate for Palestinians. I would not be surprised or shocked.

If you think Israelis have a burning hate for aid convoys and want to destroy them, and they have no idea of the strategic implications of said targeting, then you've lost the plot. Or more accurately, you are probably an antisemite.

I just rewatched the scene from Band of Brothers where Mularkey meets a Nazi soldier who grew up near him in Washington. They're shooting the shit, Mularkey leaves, next thing you hear is automatic gunfire (killing the unarmed German prisoners). We were still the good guys.

Antiemite?  Far from it.  Read my posting history on this subject.

But see the bold.  IF your goal is "drive all Palestinian civilians out of Gaza" - and let's be fucking clear, there are a metric shitton of voices in Israel, including voices in the gov't, who have openly stated that goal - then "starve them out" is an expected action in furtherance of that goal.  And if the people PREVENTING you from starving them out are aid groups, then it's a rational step to terrorize those aid groups into inaction.  You do that by killing them.

Again, do I think that's MOST likely?  No.  Do I think that there are enough people in Israel and the gov't smiling about this development today that we can't rule it out?  Yeah, I do.  Which is its own problem.  When your credibility on a matter has reached the point where "can't rule out openly genocidal intent" is a thing, you've fucked up.

10 minutes ago, statsman said:

I think the Germans and Nazis had more to do with making genocide “a thing”. 

My point was not that the ACT of genocide became a thing, but that the CRIME of genocide, as in "let's make this thing a violation of International Law, and take action accordingly if it occurs again," became a thing.  "Crimes Against Humanity" is a concept born of the lessons of the Holocaust.

8 minutes ago, Skipper said:

If their actual goal is a complete genocide of the inhabitants of the entire region, this would still be an idiotic decision in furtherance of that goal. Because of the barbaric nature of the October attack, Israel and their methods were going to get the benefit of the doubt from a majority of the West.  I mean pretty much anyone that was old enough to be emotionally impacted from 9/11 will probably always carry some level of bias when it comes to conflicts with Islamic terrorists. And collateral damage can be explained at some level when you have terrorists hiding among civilians.  But the lack of civilian aid was already a growing narrative and now the high profile nature of this attack is going to make a lot of people that might have given the IDF the benefit of the doubt question WTF is going on.  

The reality is a very small percentage of Americans pay as much attention to this conflict as those that read this thread.  But everyone that watches the news tonight will know about and remember this.

The bolded is correct.  Also, never rule out something totally fucking idiotic.  They've ALREADY gone way down the idiotic road.  At this point, what's one step further?

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9 minutes ago, Thetexashammer said:

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

If you want to convince me the IDF are targeting civilians, I think it would be stupid, for lots of reasons even down to the point of its just a waste of ammo. However, I am sure there is some of that. I understand the logic, there are Israelis who have a burning hate for Palestinians. I would not be surprised or shocked.

If you think Israelis have a burning hate for aid convoys and want to destroy them, and they have no idea of the strategic implications of said targeting, then you've lost the plot. Or more accurately, you are probably an antisemite.

I just rewatched the scene from Band of Brothers where Mularkey meets a Nazi soldier who grew up near him in Washington. They're shooting the shit, Mularkey leaves, next thing you hear is automatic gunfire (killing the unarmed German prisoners). We were still the good guys.

The problem is this kind of thing happens with such frequency that at some point it becomes incredibly unlikely to be an accident. This is only the latest group of foreign aid workers and/or press to be killed by the IDF either negligently or intentionally since Oct. 7th. It just so happens that this time it happened to a US-based organization that is entirely above reproach.

It's funny you say some of this when Netanyahu has repeatedly claimed to not give a single shit about the optics, and is pushing forward as fast as possible in order to keep his own ass in power and out of prison.

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2 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

But see the bold.  IF your goal is "drive all Palestinian civilians out of Gaza" - and let's be fucking clear, there are a metric shitton of voices in Israel, including voices in the gov't, who have openly stated that goal - then "starve them out" is an expected action in furtherance of that goal.  And if the people PREVENTING you from starving them out are aid groups, then it's a rational step to terrorize those aid groups into inaction.  You do that by killing them.

Yep. And it's working. WCK is now going to be too afraid to operate in Gaza. It's a huge blow to Gazan aid overall and that's what makes me believe it's intentional.

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Posted (edited)
22 minutes ago, Thetexashammer said:

Have you ever been in a TOC? Have you ever commanded men in war? How do you know what goes on inside a military command? Please tell us.

You might have to remind him of the time we accidentally bombed the Chinese embassy. 
 
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_bombing_of_the_Chinese_embassy_in_Belgrade

Fog of war, indeed. Three Chinese journalists killed, and many false reports that it was deliberate. 

Edited by statsman
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13 minutes ago, Thetexashammer said:

Have you ever been in a TOC? Have you ever commanded men in war? How do you know what goes on inside a military command? Please tell us.

I always skip the table of contents 

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Posted (edited)

Kill authority is delegated from the CDR in Chief down to operational level commanders. If this were the US, the investigation would likely recommend these types of authorizations go to a higher level of commander. Higher level have a different education, and thus more sensitivity to politics. 

Personally, I would set the policy so you don't attack third parties under any circumstances. However, that is likely to be the exact reason the high value Hamas target was intending to travel with WCK in the first place. So it's like every other fucking war dilemma. You don't win, not matter what you do. Nobody wins in war.

Edited by Thetexashammer
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29 minutes ago, Thetexashammer said:

Kill authority is delegated from the CDR in Chief down to operational level commanders. If this were the US, the investigation would likely recommend these types of authorizations go to a higher level of commander. Higher level have a different education, and thus more sensitivity to politics. 

Personally, I would set the policy so you don't attack third parties under any circumstances. However, that is likely to be the exact reason the high value Hamas target was intending to travel with WCK in the first place. So it's like every other fucking war dilemma. You don't win, not matter what you do. Nobody wins in war.

Just quoting this for later so this utter piece of shit can't deny he was claiming WCK was sheltering Hamas.

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38 minutes ago, Thetexashammer said:

However, that is likely to be the exact reason the high value Hamas target was intending to travel with WCK in the first place. 

 

2 hours ago, Thetexashammer said:

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

hmm

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