It’s time to stop
Enough.
It may seem wrong that, after more than 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza have perished, it took the deaths of just seven international aid workers to stir Western governments into a sense of outrage, but that is the reality.
Israel has promised an inquiry – but we need not wait for that to understand what happened. The known facts are not in dispute, and they speak for themselves. These were not Hamas militants. They were not illicitly transporting Hamas commanders. They were working for World Central Kitchen and the UN World Food Programme.
Their vehicles were appropriately marked. They were taking a route approved for humanitarian aid transport. They died as a result of an Israeli drone attack.
It is not”, as their agency calls them, deserve to be named and memorialised: Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, 25, of Palestine; , 43, of Australia; Damian Soból, 35, of Poland; Jacob Flickinger, 33, a dual citizen of the US and Canada; and John Chapman, 57, James Henderson, 33, and James Kirby, 47, all British. They may be added to the toll of close to 200 aid workers who have been killed.
