The convoy of the World Central Kitchen Organization was targeted on Al-Rashid Street, south of Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip (Anatolia)

An investigation conducted by Al Jazeera revealed that the Israeli occupation army deliberately targeted the convoy of employees of the World Central Kitchen organization 3 times in a row on Al-Rashid Street, south of Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

An investigation conducted by Sanad Agency, affiliated with Al Jazeera Network, based on open sources, eyewitness accounts, and photos of the bombing sites, was able to conduct a temporal and spatial mapping of the events and determine the geographical locations of 3 cars belonging to the organization in close locations, in addition to the warehouse from which the convoy departed before it was subjected to the bombing.

The picture shows a car targeting employees of the World Central Kitchen Organization from the air (Reuters)

Yesterday, Monday, April 1, 2024, local journalists reported at 10:43 pm Gaza time that a car was subjected to Israeli bombing on Al-Rashid Street in Deir Al-Balah and that there were casualties. The details of this news are consistent with the testimony of one of the people displaced to Al-Jazeera, who confirmed that more than one bombing occurred. Between 11:00 – 11:30 pm.

It turned out that the bombing targeted 3 cars belonging to the World Central Kitchen Organization, including two armored cars and a third unarmored car. The bombing resulted in the killing of 7 relief team employees with multiple foreign nationalities, including the Palestinian driver from Rafah, Saif Abu Taha.

What remains of one of the World Central Kitchen Organization’s vehicles that was targeted by the Israeli occupation forces (Anatolia)

The testimony of the displaced Hassan Al-Shorbaji, who lives close to the bombing with his family, confirmed that the first car was bombed, which led to it being completely burned. The injured were evacuated in the second car, and after it moved, it was bombed.

Drawing events

The World Central Kitchen organization's statement confirmed that the convoy moved from its warehouse in Deir al-Balah Governorate towards Al-Rashid Street, where the investigation was able to determine the geographical location of a warehouse belonging to the organization in Deir al-Balah and its distance from the bombing site.

The warehouse is located at the coordinates (31°24'54.7″N 34°22'05.1″E), and by determining the geographical location to target the three cars, the first of the targeted cars that were completely charred may be approximately 4760 meters away from the warehouse, divided according to the expected path ( From the warehouse towards Al-Rashid Street, where the distance between them is approximately 3,000 meters, and approximately 1,700 meters from Al-Rashid Street to the location where the first car was targeted).

The location of the warehouse that the organization established to facilitate its tasks in Deir al-Balah appears on Google Maps (social networking sites)

According to Al-Shorbagy’s testimony, the first car in the convoy was hit by a missile, causing it to catch fire, which is consistent with the picture of the burning armored car.

Documents of World Central Kitchen employees who were injured in the Israeli raid (Anatolia)

The wounded were transferred from the targeted car to the other armored car so that it moved quickly, to be targeted again.

By determining the geographical location of the second targeted car and its route, it is clear that there is a spatial match with the testimony of the displaced person, Al-Shorbagy, as the second car is approximately 800 meters away from the location where the first car was targeted.

The third car was targeted approximately 1,600 meters away from the second car, after its geographical location was determined following the bombing.

Reviewing the scenes from the bombing sites showed that there were very clear signs and logos on the roofs of cars and windshields bearing the name of the World Central Kitchen Organization, where the bombing also occurred in the presence of coordination between the organization and the Israeli army, according to what the official statements stated.

By analyzing the images of the second and third car being targeted, traces of an object entering the roof of the two cars from top to bottom are clear, which indicates that the two cars were targeted from the air.

The Israeli army acknowledged its responsibility for the killing of aid workers in Gaza last night as a result of an Israeli raid, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israeli army forces “unintentionally” injured innocent people in Gaza.

Source: Al Jazeera