‘CAR BY CAR’

José Andrés Says Israel Targeted Aid Workers ‘Systematically’

“This was not just a bad luck situation,” the celebrity chef said.

José Andrés, the founder of World Central Kitchen, told Reuters on Wednesday that he does not believe Israel’s explanation that an airstrike that killed seven of his aid workers was unintentional. “This was not just a bad luck situation where ‘oops’ we dropped the bomb in the wrong place,” the celebrity restaurateur said in an interview. “Even if we were not in coordination with the [Israel Defense Forces], no democratic country and no military can be targeting civilians and humanitarians.” In a New York Times op-ed published the same day, Andrés explained that the workers had coordinated their movements with the IDF, and had been traveling in a clearly marked convoy. “They were targeting us in a deconflicting zone, in an area controlled by IDF,” Andrés told Reuters. “They knowing that it was our teams moving on that road... with three cars.” He “categorically” rejected Israel and the U.S.’ claims that the strike was accidental, saying the convoy was targeted “systematically, car by car.” An Israeli military spokesperson redirected Reuters on Wednesday to the government’s prior assertions the attack “was not carried out with the intention of harming WCK aid workers.”