This Tuesday, the British Government summoned the Israeli ambassador in London, Tzipi Hotovely.for the “unacceptable” death of three British aid workers from the NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK) in an Israeli attack in Gaza.
In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed that the ambassador was transferred the “unequivocal condemnation of the horrific death of seven WCK collaborators, including three British nationals.”
The NGO founded by Spanish chef José Andrés had previously reported the death of a UK citizen.
In the meeting with the ambassador, The Secretary of State for Development and Africa, Andrew Mitchell, called for a rapid and transparent investigation, that is also shared with the international community and that results in full accountability.
Likewise, Mitchell urged Hotovely that Israel put in place a de-escalation mechanism immediately and to allow access to more humanitarian aid urgently in Gaza.
In parallel with the ambassador’s call, the British Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, called his Israeli counterpart, Israel Katz, to urge his country to “urgently explain how this happened” and to make “big changes that guarantee the security of cooperators on the ground”.
Cameron called the deaths of the WCK workers “completely unacceptable” in his conversation with Katz.
Previously, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had been “shocked and saddened” by the news and called for an urgent investigation because “there are clearly questions that need answers.”
An independent entity, the Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism, will investigate the attack in which the NGO’s seven humanitarian workers were killed in Gaza, the Israeli Army said on Tuesday.
WCK announced that it is suspending its operations in Gaza after confirming the deaths of its seven workers.