Citizens from Australia, Britain and Poland were among seven people working for World Central Kitchen who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in central Gaza on Monday, the NGO said.
Below are details on WCK:
- U.S.-based, non-governmental organization WCK was set up by Michelin-starred celebrity chef Jose Andres and his wife Patricia in 2010 following a major earthquake in Haiti, initially to provide emergency food aid to survivors.
- WCK expanded from there to provide resilience training, meals and support to survivors of other natural disasters, as well as refugees and people affected by conflict.
- WCK has served tens of millions of meals in Ukraine since Russia's 2022 invasion.
- WCK was involved in the first shipment of aid to Gaza via a sea corridor from Cyprus in March. A second WCK maritime aid shipment carrying 332 tons of food was due to arrive in Gaza early this week.
- Founder Andres is a Spanish-American chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. His avant-garde restaurant 'minibar by Jose Andres' in Washington, D.C., has two Michelin stars. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama in 2015.
