A former national security adviser has said that the UK should stop arming Israel following the killing of World Central Kitchen workers.
The New Arab Staff
03 April, 2024
The UK has been facing growing calls to end its arms sales to Israel [GETTY]
The UK government is facing calls to halt arms exports to Israel, as nationwide anger erupts over the killing of three British aid workers in Gaza by Israeli strikes on Monday.
John Chapman, 57, James Henderson, 33, and James Kirby, 47 - reportedly former UK servicemen - were working in Gaza for the World Central Kitchen (WCK) charity when their vehicle was struck by an Israeli missile, ending the lives of all seven aid workers onboard.
The killing of the three British men - dubbed "heroes" by some media outlets - has prompted huge anger in the UK at the Israeli government and reignited calls for an arms embargo on Israel.
Conservative peer Peter Ricketts, a former national security advisor and a former permanent secretary at the UK Foreign Office, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think there's abundant evidence now that Israel hasn't been taking enough care to fulfil its obligations on the safety of civilians.
"A company that gets arms from the UK has to comply with international humanitarian law. That's a condition of the arms export licence. So honestly, I think the time has come to send that signal."
He said this might send a "powerful" political message to Israel and "stimulate" the US to consider doing the same.
The tragedy has drawn widespread backlash against Israel, with right-wing media outlets - typically sympathetic to Israel - outraged by the killings.
The Daily Mail's leading headlines covering the story included the words "Anger" and "Fury", while MailOnline detailed how the assault happened in devastating detail.
The Sun - dubbing the three former servicemen as "heroes" - claimed a "rogue" Israeli unit was responsible for the strike on the clearly-marked humanitarian convoy and Israeli military sources said they were "out of control".
Yet they are just three of scores of aid workers killed in Gaza. At least 196 humanitarians have been killed in the occupied Palestinian Territory since Israel's brutal assault began in October, with healthcare facilities and aid distribution points the scenes of horrifying massacres committed by Israeli forces.
The targeting of humanitarian facilities and aid workers has led to accusations that Israel is deliberately orchestrating a man-made famine in Gaza.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described the three British men as "brave men" and their deaths as an "awful, awful tragedy", indirectly warning Israel of the "increasingly intolerable" situation in Gaza.
He called for an urgent investigation into the killings and demanded an explanation from Israel.
Opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer said the tragedy "outrageous and unacceptable" and demanded humanitarian law be protected.
Both have been slammed by the public for their "pathetic" response to the "murder" of three former British servicemen with calls for a harsher response by London to Israel, including cutting arms supplies.
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What is World Central Kitchen targeted by Israel in Gaza?
These calls will likely increase if it is proven that the engine in the Hermes 450 drone responsible for their deaths was UK-made, as has been suggested by the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP).
ICJP Public Affairs and Communications Officer Liam Doherty said in a statement: "By refusing to implement the very checks meant to prevent misuse of UK weaponry, the UK government has given carte blanche to any atrocities committed with them.
"The illegality of arms sales to Israel is clear. The question, now, is how far government officials are willing to take it: in the knowledge that they may risk criminal liability for complicity in the atrocities which Israel has committed – and which it will continue to commit, unless its genocide is stopped."
The UK government has summoned the Israeli ambassador over the killings and demanded an explanation from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Since Israel's devastating war on Gaza began in October - killing around 33,000 Palestinians - there have been wider calls in the UK for a suspension of arms sales to Israel.
The UK government has licensed weapons exports to Israel worth over £574 million to Israel, according to government export data analysed by Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) with fears that UK-made weaponry could be responsible for many of those killed in the Israeli onslaught.
‘He will be remembered as a hero': Family of UK aid worker killed by Israel
‘He died trying to help people and was subject to an inhumane act,' says family of another worker
Burak Bir |03.04.2024 -
We've been here before
by Steve Topple
World Central Kitchen: Israel slaughtering staff
As the Canary’s James Wright previously reported, on Monday 1 April:
NGO World Central Kitchen aid workers were coordinating their journey with Israel and in clearly marked vehicles when the Israeli military murdered them with repeated drone strikes.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) killed seven people working with the NGO after the aid workers dropped off 100 tonnes of food at a warehouse in central Gazan city Deir al Balah. Those killed include people from Britain, Poland, Australia, and Palestine.
World Central Kitchen is an international food aid organisation that chef Jose Andres started and is on the ground in Gaza as well as other places like Ukraine.
Since the incident, more details have come to light:
Israeli forces carried out a triple tap on World Central Kitchen’s convoy – appearing like they targeted it.
They claimed it was because Hamas operative were in the trucks.
Israel’s leadership has distanced themselves from the attack – saying it was carried out by IDF soldiers who had essentially gone rogue.
Israel often uses the above excuses to try and play down what is clear targeting of aid workers or medical staff. However, on this occasion is has not washed internationally – with rounded condemnation of the massacre.
However, this is not the full story.
Just who is the NGO?
As the Sun reported, the three British World Central Kitchen staff were all ex-military. Moreover, they all worked for Solace Global. It is a private security, cyber security, and intelligence/risk company whose cyber arm is approved by the UK government’s National Cyber Security Centre. However, as Charlie Herbert noted on X it is routine for NGOs to use ex-military in what he called “high-risk areas”.
Meanwhile, World Central Kitchen’s founder José Andrés has previously been written about. As the Grayzone described, he is:
State Department-linked Spanish celebrity chef José Andrés has emerged as the US government’s preferred conduit for aid to enter Gaza, following the Biden administration’s decision to suspend funding to the enclave’s main supplier of food, aid and education, the UNRWA.
It noted that he works for the US State Department and his NGO has also operated in Ukraine. The Grayzone went on to say that:
Andrés’ organization, World Central Kitchen, has already finished constructing its own jetty, which was made from the rubble heaps in Gaza
The NGO since delivered aid to Gaza via boat. As the Grayzone noted, it:
is only able to operate in Gaza with the explicit permission of the Israeli military. The New York Times… [noted] “the Israeli military helped World Central Kitchen’s operation, providing security and coordination” and that “every step was carried out with permission from the Israeli military.”
Moreover, in the aftermath of Hamas’s 7 October attacks, World Central Kitchen was actually providing meals to the IDF.
After Israel killed the seven World Central Kitchen workers, Biden phoned Andrés personally to offer his condolences. Meanwhile, the Israeli state called the NGO’s work in Gaza “critical”.
Finally, founder of Declassified UK Matt Kennard said on social media that flight logs showed that on 1 April the British military flew what he called a “six hour spy mission” over Gaza.
So, what does all this mean?
Israel removing UNRWA and replacing it with World Central Kitchen?
Director of Electronic Intifada Ali Abunimah said on X that he believes one possibility is:
There’s reason why Israel provided so much support to World Central Kitchen, while it blocks UNRWA convoys and Joe Biden defunds UNRWA. And none of it has to do with the welfare or survival of Palestinians in Gaza. They want to destroy UNRWA and replace it with PR.
He also noted that World Central Kitchen issued a statement on 29 March, addressing speculation about it’s close working with the Israeli state and rumours about it replacing UNRWA. Since then, Israel’s killing of World Central Kitchen staff has actually led to it and other NGOs pausing or ceasing operations in Gaza.
Moreover, since 7 October Israel has killed nearly 200 aid workers – yet none of these murders prompted a response like World Central Kitchen’s staff’s killings have. However, Israel’s slaughter of World Central Kitchen’s staff seems at odds with its work with it. Abunimah mused that it might be ‘retaliative’.
All this is unconfirmed or speculative. However, the idea that governments use NGOs as cover for their own agendas and operations is hardly new. As author and journalist Naomi Klein was documenting in the 2000s, so-called “disaster capitalism” has form on this.
Before releasing her seminal work The Shock Doctrine, Klein wrote for the Nation in 2005 that:
In Afghanistan, where the World Bank… administers the country’s aid through a trust fund, it has already managed to privatize healthcare by refusing to give funds to the Ministry of Health to build hospitals. Instead it funnels money directly to NGOs, which are running their own private health clinics on three-year contracts.
It has also mandated “an increased role for the private sector” in the water system, telecommunications, oil, gas and mining and directed the government to “withdraw” from the electricity sector and leave it to “foreign private investors.”
Neo-colonialism and disaster capitalism happening in Israel
Overall, Klein broadly noted on her website that:
“We used to have vulgar colonialism,” says Shalmali Guttal, a Bangalore-based researcher with Focus on the Global South. “Now we have sophisticated colonialism, and they call it ‘reconstruction.’”
It certainly seems that ever-larger portions of the globe are under active reconstruction; being rebuilt by a parallel government made up of a familiar cast of for-profit consulting firms, engineering companies, mega-NGOs, government and UN aid agencies and international financial institutions.
And from the people living in these reconstruction sites—Iraq to Aceh, Afghanistan to Haiti—a similar chorus of c omplaints can be heard.
The work is far too slow, if it is happening at all. Foreign consultants live high on cost-plus expense accounts and thousand-dollar-a-day salaries, while locals are shut out of much-needed jobs, training and decision making.
Expert “democracy builders” lecture governments on the importance of transparency and “good governance” yet most contractors and NGOs refuse to open their books to those same governments, let alone give them control over how their aid money is spent.
Could this be what we are beginning to witness in Gaza – with World Central Kitchen being one of the proxies? It is early days and the evidence is so far unclear – and there is currently no indication any of the NGO staff that Israel murdered were in Gaza for any other reason than to support relief efforts and to try to save lives.
However, questions do need to be asked of World Central Kitchen’s role in Israel’s ongoing genocide – as do questions over how the IDF has once again slaughtered aid workers without recourse.
Featured image via POLITICO – YouTube
‘He died trying to help people and was subject to an inhumane act,' says family of another worker
Burak Bir |03.04.2024 -
Passports of the officials working at the US-based international volunteer aid organization World Central Kitchen (WCK), who are killed, are seen after an Israeli attack on a vehicle belonging to WCK in Deir Al-Balah of Gaza on April 02, 2024.
LONDON
Families of three British aid workers killed by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip said they are "devastated" Wednesday for their losses.
Seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen (WCK) were killed in an Israeli strike Monday in the Gaza Strip. They were nationals of Australia, Poland, the UK, Palestine, as well as a US-Canada dual citizen.
It was later confirmed that three were British citizens -- James Kirby, James Henderson and John Chapman.
Kirby's family said they are "utterly heartbroken by the loss of our beloved James."
"Alongside the other six individuals who tragically lost their lives, he will be remembered as a hero," according to a statement that said Kirby understood the dangers of venturing into Gaza, drawing from his experiences in the British Armed Forces.
The family said Kirby was always willing to lend a helping hand to anyone, even in the face of senseless violence.
After the targeted attack, WCK said it was pausing operations in the region.
Sky News reported that Chapman’s family is "devastated.”
"He died trying to help people and was subject to an inhumane act. He was an incredible father, husband, son and brother," it said, citing a statement from the family.
A childhood friend of Henderson. a former Royal Marine from Cornwall, told British television station, ITV, that it had not "sunk in yet" that he had died.
"Being around Jim, you felt that nothing could go wrong. He always had complete control over everything,” he said.
Britain summoned the Israeli ambassador to the Foreign Office for the killing of the aid workers.
Israel has waged a military offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by the Palestinian group, Hamas. which killed less than 1,200 people.
Nearly 33,000 Palestinians have since been killed and caused mass destruction and displacement.
Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on Gaza, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.
LONDON
Families of three British aid workers killed by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip said they are "devastated" Wednesday for their losses.
Seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen (WCK) were killed in an Israeli strike Monday in the Gaza Strip. They were nationals of Australia, Poland, the UK, Palestine, as well as a US-Canada dual citizen.
It was later confirmed that three were British citizens -- James Kirby, James Henderson and John Chapman.
Kirby's family said they are "utterly heartbroken by the loss of our beloved James."
"Alongside the other six individuals who tragically lost their lives, he will be remembered as a hero," according to a statement that said Kirby understood the dangers of venturing into Gaza, drawing from his experiences in the British Armed Forces.
The family said Kirby was always willing to lend a helping hand to anyone, even in the face of senseless violence.
After the targeted attack, WCK said it was pausing operations in the region.
Sky News reported that Chapman’s family is "devastated.”
"He died trying to help people and was subject to an inhumane act. He was an incredible father, husband, son and brother," it said, citing a statement from the family.
A childhood friend of Henderson. a former Royal Marine from Cornwall, told British television station, ITV, that it had not "sunk in yet" that he had died.
"Being around Jim, you felt that nothing could go wrong. He always had complete control over everything,” he said.
Britain summoned the Israeli ambassador to the Foreign Office for the killing of the aid workers.
Israel has waged a military offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by the Palestinian group, Hamas. which killed less than 1,200 people.
Nearly 33,000 Palestinians have since been killed and caused mass destruction and displacement.
Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on Gaza, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.
World Central Kitchen staff slaughtered by Israel were ex-military working for a private UK government-backed security contractor
We've been here before
by Steve Topple
THE CANARY UK
3 April 2024
in Analysis
The three British World Central Kitchen staff Israel slaughtered were all ex-Royal Marines or Special Forces who also worked for a private, UK-government approved security firm. The news poses more questions than it gives answers – as the NGO was a US-backed, Israel-supported operation in Gaza whose ‘celebrity chef’ head has close ties to government, while the UK has also been flying reconnaissance missions over the strip, where Israel has killed over 33,000 people in its ongoing genocide.
3 April 2024
in Analysis
The three British World Central Kitchen staff Israel slaughtered were all ex-Royal Marines or Special Forces who also worked for a private, UK-government approved security firm. The news poses more questions than it gives answers – as the NGO was a US-backed, Israel-supported operation in Gaza whose ‘celebrity chef’ head has close ties to government, while the UK has also been flying reconnaissance missions over the strip, where Israel has killed over 33,000 people in its ongoing genocide.
World Central Kitchen: Israel slaughtering staff
As the Canary’s James Wright previously reported, on Monday 1 April:
NGO World Central Kitchen aid workers were coordinating their journey with Israel and in clearly marked vehicles when the Israeli military murdered them with repeated drone strikes.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) killed seven people working with the NGO after the aid workers dropped off 100 tonnes of food at a warehouse in central Gazan city Deir al Balah. Those killed include people from Britain, Poland, Australia, and Palestine.
World Central Kitchen is an international food aid organisation that chef Jose Andres started and is on the ground in Gaza as well as other places like Ukraine.
Since the incident, more details have come to light:
Israeli forces carried out a triple tap on World Central Kitchen’s convoy – appearing like they targeted it.
They claimed it was because Hamas operative were in the trucks.
Israel’s leadership has distanced themselves from the attack – saying it was carried out by IDF soldiers who had essentially gone rogue.
Israel often uses the above excuses to try and play down what is clear targeting of aid workers or medical staff. However, on this occasion is has not washed internationally – with rounded condemnation of the massacre.
However, this is not the full story.
Just who is the NGO?
As the Sun reported, the three British World Central Kitchen staff were all ex-military. Moreover, they all worked for Solace Global. It is a private security, cyber security, and intelligence/risk company whose cyber arm is approved by the UK government’s National Cyber Security Centre. However, as Charlie Herbert noted on X it is routine for NGOs to use ex-military in what he called “high-risk areas”.
Meanwhile, World Central Kitchen’s founder José Andrés has previously been written about. As the Grayzone described, he is:
State Department-linked Spanish celebrity chef José Andrés has emerged as the US government’s preferred conduit for aid to enter Gaza, following the Biden administration’s decision to suspend funding to the enclave’s main supplier of food, aid and education, the UNRWA.
It noted that he works for the US State Department and his NGO has also operated in Ukraine. The Grayzone went on to say that:
Andrés’ organization, World Central Kitchen, has already finished constructing its own jetty, which was made from the rubble heaps in Gaza
The NGO since delivered aid to Gaza via boat. As the Grayzone noted, it:
is only able to operate in Gaza with the explicit permission of the Israeli military. The New York Times… [noted] “the Israeli military helped World Central Kitchen’s operation, providing security and coordination” and that “every step was carried out with permission from the Israeli military.”
Moreover, in the aftermath of Hamas’s 7 October attacks, World Central Kitchen was actually providing meals to the IDF.
After Israel killed the seven World Central Kitchen workers, Biden phoned Andrés personally to offer his condolences. Meanwhile, the Israeli state called the NGO’s work in Gaza “critical”.
Finally, founder of Declassified UK Matt Kennard said on social media that flight logs showed that on 1 April the British military flew what he called a “six hour spy mission” over Gaza.
So, what does all this mean?
Israel removing UNRWA and replacing it with World Central Kitchen?
Director of Electronic Intifada Ali Abunimah said on X that he believes one possibility is:
There’s reason why Israel provided so much support to World Central Kitchen, while it blocks UNRWA convoys and Joe Biden defunds UNRWA. And none of it has to do with the welfare or survival of Palestinians in Gaza. They want to destroy UNRWA and replace it with PR.
He also noted that World Central Kitchen issued a statement on 29 March, addressing speculation about it’s close working with the Israeli state and rumours about it replacing UNRWA. Since then, Israel’s killing of World Central Kitchen staff has actually led to it and other NGOs pausing or ceasing operations in Gaza.
Moreover, since 7 October Israel has killed nearly 200 aid workers – yet none of these murders prompted a response like World Central Kitchen’s staff’s killings have. However, Israel’s slaughter of World Central Kitchen’s staff seems at odds with its work with it. Abunimah mused that it might be ‘retaliative’.
All this is unconfirmed or speculative. However, the idea that governments use NGOs as cover for their own agendas and operations is hardly new. As author and journalist Naomi Klein was documenting in the 2000s, so-called “disaster capitalism” has form on this.
Before releasing her seminal work The Shock Doctrine, Klein wrote for the Nation in 2005 that:
In Afghanistan, where the World Bank… administers the country’s aid through a trust fund, it has already managed to privatize healthcare by refusing to give funds to the Ministry of Health to build hospitals. Instead it funnels money directly to NGOs, which are running their own private health clinics on three-year contracts.
It has also mandated “an increased role for the private sector” in the water system, telecommunications, oil, gas and mining and directed the government to “withdraw” from the electricity sector and leave it to “foreign private investors.”
Neo-colonialism and disaster capitalism happening in Israel
Overall, Klein broadly noted on her website that:
“We used to have vulgar colonialism,” says Shalmali Guttal, a Bangalore-based researcher with Focus on the Global South. “Now we have sophisticated colonialism, and they call it ‘reconstruction.’”
It certainly seems that ever-larger portions of the globe are under active reconstruction; being rebuilt by a parallel government made up of a familiar cast of for-profit consulting firms, engineering companies, mega-NGOs, government and UN aid agencies and international financial institutions.
And from the people living in these reconstruction sites—Iraq to Aceh, Afghanistan to Haiti—a similar chorus of c omplaints can be heard.
The work is far too slow, if it is happening at all. Foreign consultants live high on cost-plus expense accounts and thousand-dollar-a-day salaries, while locals are shut out of much-needed jobs, training and decision making.
Expert “democracy builders” lecture governments on the importance of transparency and “good governance” yet most contractors and NGOs refuse to open their books to those same governments, let alone give them control over how their aid money is spent.
Could this be what we are beginning to witness in Gaza – with World Central Kitchen being one of the proxies? It is early days and the evidence is so far unclear – and there is currently no indication any of the NGO staff that Israel murdered were in Gaza for any other reason than to support relief efforts and to try to save lives.
However, questions do need to be asked of World Central Kitchen’s role in Israel’s ongoing genocide – as do questions over how the IDF has once again slaughtered aid workers without recourse.
Featured image via POLITICO – YouTube
Israeli drone used in Gaza aid strike powered by British-made engine, activists claim
Bel Trew,Kim Sengupta and Archie Mitchell
Wed, 3 April 2024
The remains of the vehicle in which employees from World Central Kitchen, including foreigners, were killed in Monday’s Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip (Reuters)
Britain is accused of being complicit in Israel’s killing of seven aid workers in Gaza amid claims that weapons used in the attack were powered by UK-made engines.
Israel struck a World Central Kitchen (WCK) convoy carrying charity workers, including three Britons, with a Hermes 450 drone, according to Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT). It said the weapon – known as a “Zik” drone in Israel – could have been powered by a British component.
The three British citizens killed were named yesterday as John Chapman, 57, James “Jim” Henderson, 33, and James Kirby, 47. They were part of the security team.
The deaths, described by Benjamin Netanyahu as “unintended”, prompted an outpouring of anger as pressure grows on the British government to suspend arms transfers to Israel.
Senior Tory Sir Alan Duncan, a former foreign minister, was among those to speak out against the attack, describing it in The Independent as “a tipping point in Israel’s collapsing reputation” and asking whether Britain should reconsider Israel as an ally.
Victims: (clockwise, from top left) Lalzawmi ‘Zomi’ Frankcom, Damian Sobol, James Kirby, Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, Jacob Flickinger, John Chapman and James ‘Jim’ Henderson (WCK/AFP/Getty)
Citing figures from the Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry, he said: “As the death toll in Gaza has risen from 1,000 to 10,000 to 30,000, Israel’s justification for this excess feels ever less convincing ... Through its deceit and callousness, Israel has now lost the support of the world. Nobody any longer believes its statements.”
Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy joined the calls for the arms trade to cease, accusing his ministerial counterpart David Cameron of “going silent” on the question of whether or not Israel is complying with international humanitarian law in relation to the sales. “The law is clear,” he said. “British arms licences cannot be granted if there is a clear risk.”
Meanwhile:
It emerged that more than 200 aid workers have been killed since 7 October, when Hamas terrorists killed 1,200 people
Nearly 33,000 Palestinians have died, according to Hamas-run authorities in Gaza, in the retaliatory bombing campaign by the Israeli military
The UN’s largest agency operating in Gaza, UNRWA, told The Independent that 176 of its staff have been killed since the war began, some of them while delivering vital aid
Rishi Sunak warned Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel’s war in Gaza is growing “increasingly intolerable”
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said the attack on aid workers was “absolutely unacceptable” and called for “full accountability”
US state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the US wants the investigation into the attack wrapped up as soon as possible
As more details emerged about the bombing and its victims, CAAT accused the UK of being “complicit in the murder of UK aid workers” and said it must halt arms sales to Israel. The Independent has approached the Department of Business and Trade for comment.
“This government has had every opportunity to impose an arms embargo and has refused to do so. While our thoughts are with the families and friends of the aid workers killed, they are also with the families and friends of the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have been killed by Israel,” said spokesperson Emily Apple.
She cited claims that the Foreign Office is hiding legal advice that Israel is breaching international humanitarian law, according to foreign affairs committee chair Alicia Kearns.
Since 2015, the UK has licensed £487m worth of weapons to Israel, although this does not include equipment exported via open licences.
Jose Andres, the celebrity chef who founded WCK, has described how the Israel strikes targeted his team ‘systematically, car by car’ (AP)
According to its own export licensing criteria, the UK must halt arms sales when there is a clear risk they could be used in humanitarian violations.
Israel has admitted launching the deadly strike on the convoy, saying it was unintended and “tragic”. The military promised that an independent inquiry would be held.
Military sources told Israel’s left-leaning Haaretz newspaper that the attack had involved Hermes 450 drones, and that the convoy had been pounded even though the vehicles were travelling in a deconfliction zone and the charity had coordinated its movements with the military.
Military experts in Israel told The Independent they also believed that Hermes 450 drones had been used. The Independent has approached the IDF for comment.
Jose Andres, the celebrity chef who founded WCK, said the strike had targeted his team “systematically, car by car”. The aid convoy was hit as it was leaving a warehouse in central Gaza after unloading more than 100 tonnes of food aid brought by sea.
Mr Andres said WCK had established clear communication with the Israeli military, which knew his aid workers’ movements. “This was not just a bad luck situation where ‘Oops, we dropped the bomb in the wrong place,’” he continued. “Even if we were not in coordination with the IDF, no democratic country and no military can be targeting civilians and humanitarians.”
The three Britons died alongside American-Canadian dual citizen Jacob Flickinger, 33, Australian national Lalzawmi “Zomi” Frankcom, 43, who was the leader of the relief team, Polish national Damian Sobol, 35, and Palestinian Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, 25.
The family of Mr Chapman, a former marine and a father of two from Dorset, said he “will forever be a hero”: “He died trying to help people and was subject to an inhumane act. He was an incredible father, husband, son and brother.”
The family of Mr Kirby, a military veteran believed to be a former member of Britain’s special forces, added that he was a “genuine gentleman” who was “always willing to lend a helping hand to anyone”.
Labour MP Clive Betts said Israel was behaving “completely irresponsibly and disproportionately in Gaza” and that the UK should not facilitate this by providing any weapons that are killing women, children and now aid workers as well.
“You can’t justify providing the arms that have been targeted at aid workers, and clearly, they are. It is bad enough what has happened in the last few months, but it is just getting worse every day.
“At some point, there have to be consequences for them doing things we have told them not to do.”
The Green Party renewed calls for a halt on arms exports to Israel, saying the deadly strike on the convoy showed again that the Israeli government is violating the terms of the licences under which arms are exported.
Carne Ross, a former Middle East diplomat and the party’s global solidarity spokesperson, said the claim that parts of the drone could have been produced in Britain “only strengthens the case for an immediate embargo”.
He added: “It is hugely disappointing, but sadly predictable, to hear calls to end arms exports coming only after Western lives have been lost. It comes too late for the thousands of Palestinian children slaughtered by Western-supplied bombs and bullets.”
Amnesty International spokesperson Oliver Feeley-Sprague said: “The provenance of the engines in this drone is yet another question that ministers must urgently answer.”
Rishi Sunak has so far resisted calls to end arms sales to Israel. Speaking to a weekly politics show run by The Sun, he said: “I think we’ve always had a very careful export licensing regime that we adhere to.
“There are a set of rules, regulations and procedures that we’ll always follow, and I have been consistently clear with Prime Minister Netanyahu since the start of this conflict that while, of course, we defend Israel’s right to defend itself and its people against attacks from Hamas, they have to do that in accordance with international humanitarian law, protect civilian lives and, sadly, too many civilians have already lost their lives.”
Israel has repeatedly denied breaking humanitarian law.
A Downing Street spokesperson said: “The UK operates one of the most robust and transparent export control regimes in the world. We continue to monitor the situation in Gaza. We welcome Israel’s commitment to a full, urgent and transparent inquiry into Monday’s attack and we want to see that happen very quickly.”
Bel Trew,Kim Sengupta and Archie Mitchell
Wed, 3 April 2024
The remains of the vehicle in which employees from World Central Kitchen, including foreigners, were killed in Monday’s Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip (Reuters)
Britain is accused of being complicit in Israel’s killing of seven aid workers in Gaza amid claims that weapons used in the attack were powered by UK-made engines.
Israel struck a World Central Kitchen (WCK) convoy carrying charity workers, including three Britons, with a Hermes 450 drone, according to Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT). It said the weapon – known as a “Zik” drone in Israel – could have been powered by a British component.
The three British citizens killed were named yesterday as John Chapman, 57, James “Jim” Henderson, 33, and James Kirby, 47. They were part of the security team.
The deaths, described by Benjamin Netanyahu as “unintended”, prompted an outpouring of anger as pressure grows on the British government to suspend arms transfers to Israel.
Senior Tory Sir Alan Duncan, a former foreign minister, was among those to speak out against the attack, describing it in The Independent as “a tipping point in Israel’s collapsing reputation” and asking whether Britain should reconsider Israel as an ally.
Victims: (clockwise, from top left) Lalzawmi ‘Zomi’ Frankcom, Damian Sobol, James Kirby, Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, Jacob Flickinger, John Chapman and James ‘Jim’ Henderson (WCK/AFP/Getty)
Citing figures from the Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry, he said: “As the death toll in Gaza has risen from 1,000 to 10,000 to 30,000, Israel’s justification for this excess feels ever less convincing ... Through its deceit and callousness, Israel has now lost the support of the world. Nobody any longer believes its statements.”
Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy joined the calls for the arms trade to cease, accusing his ministerial counterpart David Cameron of “going silent” on the question of whether or not Israel is complying with international humanitarian law in relation to the sales. “The law is clear,” he said. “British arms licences cannot be granted if there is a clear risk.”
Meanwhile:
It emerged that more than 200 aid workers have been killed since 7 October, when Hamas terrorists killed 1,200 people
Nearly 33,000 Palestinians have died, according to Hamas-run authorities in Gaza, in the retaliatory bombing campaign by the Israeli military
The UN’s largest agency operating in Gaza, UNRWA, told The Independent that 176 of its staff have been killed since the war began, some of them while delivering vital aid
Rishi Sunak warned Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel’s war in Gaza is growing “increasingly intolerable”
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said the attack on aid workers was “absolutely unacceptable” and called for “full accountability”
US state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the US wants the investigation into the attack wrapped up as soon as possible
As more details emerged about the bombing and its victims, CAAT accused the UK of being “complicit in the murder of UK aid workers” and said it must halt arms sales to Israel. The Independent has approached the Department of Business and Trade for comment.
“This government has had every opportunity to impose an arms embargo and has refused to do so. While our thoughts are with the families and friends of the aid workers killed, they are also with the families and friends of the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have been killed by Israel,” said spokesperson Emily Apple.
She cited claims that the Foreign Office is hiding legal advice that Israel is breaching international humanitarian law, according to foreign affairs committee chair Alicia Kearns.
Since 2015, the UK has licensed £487m worth of weapons to Israel, although this does not include equipment exported via open licences.
Jose Andres, the celebrity chef who founded WCK, has described how the Israel strikes targeted his team ‘systematically, car by car’ (AP)
According to its own export licensing criteria, the UK must halt arms sales when there is a clear risk they could be used in humanitarian violations.
Israel has admitted launching the deadly strike on the convoy, saying it was unintended and “tragic”. The military promised that an independent inquiry would be held.
Military sources told Israel’s left-leaning Haaretz newspaper that the attack had involved Hermes 450 drones, and that the convoy had been pounded even though the vehicles were travelling in a deconfliction zone and the charity had coordinated its movements with the military.
Military experts in Israel told The Independent they also believed that Hermes 450 drones had been used. The Independent has approached the IDF for comment.
Jose Andres, the celebrity chef who founded WCK, said the strike had targeted his team “systematically, car by car”. The aid convoy was hit as it was leaving a warehouse in central Gaza after unloading more than 100 tonnes of food aid brought by sea.
Mr Andres said WCK had established clear communication with the Israeli military, which knew his aid workers’ movements. “This was not just a bad luck situation where ‘Oops, we dropped the bomb in the wrong place,’” he continued. “Even if we were not in coordination with the IDF, no democratic country and no military can be targeting civilians and humanitarians.”
The three Britons died alongside American-Canadian dual citizen Jacob Flickinger, 33, Australian national Lalzawmi “Zomi” Frankcom, 43, who was the leader of the relief team, Polish national Damian Sobol, 35, and Palestinian Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, 25.
The family of Mr Chapman, a former marine and a father of two from Dorset, said he “will forever be a hero”: “He died trying to help people and was subject to an inhumane act. He was an incredible father, husband, son and brother.”
The family of Mr Kirby, a military veteran believed to be a former member of Britain’s special forces, added that he was a “genuine gentleman” who was “always willing to lend a helping hand to anyone”.
Labour MP Clive Betts said Israel was behaving “completely irresponsibly and disproportionately in Gaza” and that the UK should not facilitate this by providing any weapons that are killing women, children and now aid workers as well.
“You can’t justify providing the arms that have been targeted at aid workers, and clearly, they are. It is bad enough what has happened in the last few months, but it is just getting worse every day.
“At some point, there have to be consequences for them doing things we have told them not to do.”
The Green Party renewed calls for a halt on arms exports to Israel, saying the deadly strike on the convoy showed again that the Israeli government is violating the terms of the licences under which arms are exported.
Carne Ross, a former Middle East diplomat and the party’s global solidarity spokesperson, said the claim that parts of the drone could have been produced in Britain “only strengthens the case for an immediate embargo”.
He added: “It is hugely disappointing, but sadly predictable, to hear calls to end arms exports coming only after Western lives have been lost. It comes too late for the thousands of Palestinian children slaughtered by Western-supplied bombs and bullets.”
Amnesty International spokesperson Oliver Feeley-Sprague said: “The provenance of the engines in this drone is yet another question that ministers must urgently answer.”
Rishi Sunak has so far resisted calls to end arms sales to Israel. Speaking to a weekly politics show run by The Sun, he said: “I think we’ve always had a very careful export licensing regime that we adhere to.
“There are a set of rules, regulations and procedures that we’ll always follow, and I have been consistently clear with Prime Minister Netanyahu since the start of this conflict that while, of course, we defend Israel’s right to defend itself and its people against attacks from Hamas, they have to do that in accordance with international humanitarian law, protect civilian lives and, sadly, too many civilians have already lost their lives.”
Israel has repeatedly denied breaking humanitarian law.
A Downing Street spokesperson said: “The UK operates one of the most robust and transparent export control regimes in the world. We continue to monitor the situation in Gaza. We welcome Israel’s commitment to a full, urgent and transparent inquiry into Monday’s attack and we want to see that happen very quickly.”
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