Aid Group Fires Dozens of Gazan Employees Identified as Terrorist Operatives

Latest Developments

• Israel Identifies Terrorists Working for Aid Group: The World Central Kitchen (WCK) confirmed on December 10 that it fired 62 of its employees in the Gaza Strip after an Israeli review indicated that the employees had “affiliations and direct connections” to terrorist groups. The charity run by DC-based celebrity chef and restauranteur Jose Andres, which works to provide food aid in war-torn regions such as Gaza and Ukraine, said that it had “made changes” to its hiring practices after Israel demanded an investigation.

• Persistent Problem of Terrorist Employees and Aid Looting in Gaza: The IDF has periodically raised concerns over ongoing threats of armed gangs and Hamas looting the aid convoys. For example, on November 16, unidentified armed gangs attacked and looted a convoy of 109 aid trucks. WCK is one of dozens of organizations working to deliver aid to Gaza, some of which Israel criticized for not doing proper due diligence when hiring staff. In January, Israel issued a list of 12 employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) who participated in Hamas’s October 7 atrocities. IDF intelligence identified a further 450 UNRWA employees who were terror operatives.

• WCK’s Fraught Interactions With Israel: In April, seven WCK workers — mostly foreign nationals — were killed in an Israeli airstrike, which IDF chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi called “a mistake that followed a misidentification.” Following the incident, Andres falsely accused Israel of deliberately “targeting” the aid workers. On November 30, three WCK workers were killed in another airstrike, one of whom Israel identified as having participated in Hamas’s October 7 massacre.

FDD Expert Response

“The WCK’s dismissal of 62 employees further illustrates how Hamas has infiltrated and co-opted civilian institutions. We’ve already seen it with UNRWA and Al Jazeera. It’s a sophisticated use of human shields that puts Gaza residents at risk to advance Hamas’s interests.” — David Adesnik, Vice President of Research

“We’ve long been told that WCK was one of the ‘good guys,’ but this news reminds us that even the best-intentioned groups and individuals have been either collaborating with, or exploited by, Hamas throughout the last 15 months. The challenge of delivering aid through non-Hamas penetrated channels is real and remains a core obstacle to moving toward the ‘day after’ in Gaza.” — Richard Goldberg, Senior Advisor

“UNRWA and, more recently, WCK have demonstrated that without a stringent hiring process in Gaza, terrorists and those affiliated with them can infiltrate aid organizations. This is a troubling development, as Palestinian terrorists have repeatedly shown their willingness to exploit civilian infrastructure, including non-governmental organizations, for their own agendas.” — Joe Truzman, Senior Research Analyst and Editor at FDD’s Long War Journal

Fuente: https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2024/12/11/aid-group-fires-dozens-of-gazan-employees-identified-as-terrorist-operatives/