World Central Kitchen workers – taken hostage?

Seven World Central Kitchen workers revisited – were they taken hostage?

On a moonless night in Ramadan, April 2024, a truck convoy carrying more than 100 tonnes of humanitarian aid, shipped from Cyprus, drove to Deir al-Balah in Central Gaza.

It was accompanied by seven aid-workers – three chefs, three personal guards (ex-British soldiers), and a Palestinian translator, Saifeddin Abutaha.

They worked for World Central Kitchen (WCK), an international food-aid charity. WCK had added armour-plating and its logo to two white SUV-type cars, to protect the workers. They travelled in Israeli-style helmets and body armour but carried no weapons.

Late that night an Israeli drone crew, believing Hamas gunmen had hijacked the cars, struck the first car. Two survivors fled to the second car: it was also struck. Two more survivors entered a third, unarmored car. It sped away. It was struck, with no survivors.

Next morning, photos were taken of the cars, the colorful WCK logos visible in daylight. It seemed the IDF had deliberately targeted clearly-marked aid vehicles. A wave of international outrage ensued, with images of shattered cars screened on TV worldwide.

An Israeli fact-finding inquiry concluded the drone operators couldn’t see the logos at night. (This was confirmed by international journalists who viewed the drone-crew’s video.)

The Israeli inquiry found those involved “were convinced they were targeting armed Hamas operatives, not WCK employees” but two officers were dismissed and two reprimanded. They also faced criminal charges.

Australia demanded  an independent inquiry, as Zomi Frankcom, the workers’ team-leader, was Australian. Air Commander Mark Binskin was appointed, conducting a detailed, four-month inquiry. TOI covered his report: he agreed the airstrikes were due to misidentification.

Binskin described armed Palestinian security guards climbing “on and into” the trucks. The drone video clearly showed a gunman standing on an aid truck, firing a gun. Binskin commented, “I cannot rule out that WCK inadvertently contracted security” with Hamas links.

His unemotional language nevertheless creates an atmosphere of fear. A much stronger interpretation of events is possible: that Hamas hijacked the aid shipment and took the aid workers hostage.

Timeline: The aid convoy left a floating dock in Northern Gaza after 8.30 pm. Muslims fast during the day during Ramadan. Leaving after dark would give the hired truck drivers time to eat and drink before departing. But it was dangerous.

The drone crew monitored the convoy approaching the WCK Welcome Centre at Deir al-Balah, where kitchens were set up to feed hungry Palestinians. Gunmen arrived. A shot was fired. The drone-crew assessed this as Hamas capturing the convoy. They reported it to CLA, the coordination-liaison body for Gaza’s aid agencies.

CLA tried urgently to contact the aid workers. They didn’t answer their phones.

The vehicles then entered the nearby WCK warehouse to unload. The workers’ cars emerged, joining the gunmen’s car.  A crowd of 15-20 people and two to four gunmen surrounded them.

The gunmen, weapons prominently displayed, drove to a nearby warehouse. Up to four gunmen went inside, before the drone-crew could target them.

Meanwhile three white cars headed for the coast. The aid-workers had arranged with CLA to stay at the Welcome Centre, presumably to cook for the hungry. Instead they turned south towards Rafah.

Interpretation

The gunman firing his weapon was warning bystanders that Hamas now controlled the aid shipment. The gun-crew told Binskin it was Hamas’s “modus operandi”.

Other gunmen patrolling the aid workers’ cars were warning the crowd not to harm them.  They were now hostages. This is my interpretation.

Other gunmen were posted to guard the food aid. Hamas members may have planned to transfer it to their warehouse nearby. It would be easily done: the WCK warehouse staff were unarmed.

Unanswered Questions

1. Why would Palestinians capture aid workers who came to feed them?

These workers didn’t carry cooking pots. They wore Israeli military costume. A “selfie” of Zomi in IDF-style helmet and vest is still widely available online.

The British allowed Zionists into Palestine, so the three ex-British soldiers would be seen as enemies. Hamas would not want foreigners distributing food in Gaza. By  controlling the food supply, it controlled the people.

Hamas could easily kidnap six valuable foreign hostages, driving them to Rafah to trade for hundreds of jailed Palestinians. Hamas had similarly kidnapped 250 innocent people only 6 months earlier.

The unarmed aid workers may have been captured by gunmen inside the warehouse. Drone crews cannot see through warehouse roofs, or count people inside cars. Outside the warehouse, more men entered the cars. A driver put a bag into the driver’s side of a car: perhaps it held food, perhaps handguns.

Hamas could display guns openly near aid convoys, knowing the Israelis would not strike them. But they would conceal their guns when taking hostages.

2. Why didn’t the aid workers answer their phones when CLA called them?

Binskin made a detailed investigation of CLA’s efforts to contact the aid team after the convoy hijacking was reported. CLA tried “every means possible”, calling or emailing WCK centres in Gaza and America.  “After multiple attempts”, WCK Headquarters in Washington contacted a worker at the Deir al-Balah warehouse, via WhatsApp. He claimed the local security guards had “fake guns”.

Binskin added, “this extended set of communications,” probably continued after the workers were killed. Celebrity chef Jose Andres, said, “Somehow, we kind of lost communication”. WCK “lost contact with its team in Gaza… until they saw photos of the bodies”.

The BBC suggested phone reception was “patchy”. However several calls were made:

Zomi Frankcom rang her brother twice at a checkpoint near Deir al-Balah saying. “Wish us well …this is the most dangerous part”.

Saifeddin Abutaha called his  brother, who said the last time they spoke the WCK team had finished the job and was heading home (to Rafah).

According to Haaretz, a survivor from the first car told Israeli authorities they had been struck, just before the second airstrike. These calls show reception was adequate until the final moment.

Interpretation:  A simple explanation for the communication breakdown is that kidnappers confiscated the foreign workers’ phones.

Saifeddin’s phone was later found, still working, 200 meters from a wrecked car. The kidnappers may have thrown it out the window after he called Israeli authorities.

Why did seven people need three cars?

WCK had only two armoured cars. Binskin mentioned two cars were used when loading.  Early press releases from WCK reported seven people in two cars died. Later, after three damaged cars were found, everyone assumed they were in three cars.

Why would seven people need three cars? The third was unarmoured, suggesting it was an ordinary warehouse or Hamas vehicle. Who would  travel unprotected, in a soft-skinned car?

Perhaps it carried additional workers? If so they would have been killed. WCK would certainly report it. WCK reported only seven workers killed.

Binskin also assumed only seven people died, “likely one in the first car, two in the second and four in the last.” We can’t assume this: the IDF did not retrieve the bodies.

Someone at WCK hired armed security men identified as Hamas. That person likely hired the eight truck drivers who delivered the humanitarian aid.

Truck drivers could drive the hostages to Rafah in the hostages’ own cars, others following in a warehouse car to prevent anyone escaping. Up to fifteen people may have been in the three cars.

The WCK office may have been infiltrated. Eight months later, WCK sacked 62 people after receiving a list of workers with alleged terrorist links, one accused of participating in the October 7 massacre.

Why would the aid workers go to Rafah?

Binskin states the workers decided to go to accommodation in Rafah, not the nearby Welcome Centre as arranged with CLA. No source is given.

Saifeddin called his brother and possibly also WCK, saying the workers were coming to Rafah.  But these calls may have been made under duress to allay fears that they were missing.

Hamas then controlled Rafah, in the far south of Gaza, holding many hostages.

The cars were driving on a different road from the one agreed upon with CLA. Speeding towards Rafah at night during a war with two potentially lethal IDF drones buzzing overhead seems insanely dangerous, even for terrorists.

Hamas may have believed the IDF would not strike cars carrying aid workers. Tragically, the drone operators didn’t know they were inside the white cars.  The chefs had planned to stay in Deir al-Balah.

The aid workers behaviour was odd. Would experienced chefs and ex-British soldiers aged in their thirties to fifties try to outrun a fast Israeli drone? Or flee from car to car when struck? That would only incite the drone operators to strike again. It is more characteristic of Hamas.

The figures seen fleeing to the third car may have been Hamas members.

Aftermath: The IDF asked The Palestinian Red Crescent Society  (PRCS) to retrieve the aid-workers’ bodies. Two bodies were initially missing (still alive or kept for hostage trading?)  They were retrieved by the PRCS, who posted on WhatsApp that it was “a challenging operation spanning several hours”.

Other posts showed bodies, “several wearing protective gear with the charity’s logo”. Those without protective gear may have been Hamas drivers. It may have taken hours to decide which bodies were aid workers.

Conclusion: It seems inconceivable that the aid team would go off to bed in Rafah, leaving children hungry. Zomi Frankcom was known as a tireless humanitarian. It was not yet 11 pm: ample time to prepare a pre-dawn feast.

It is extraordinary, considering the media attention, that no-one appears to have suggested this was a Hamas kidnapping, despite October 7. It should be investigated before the IDF members involved are further punished.

It may also comfort the victims’ families to know the workers were not deliberately killed. and they were not held hostage in tunnels.

After huge expense to bring food aid from Cyprus, WCK closed for a month, leaving it in a warehouse controlled by gunmen. Zomi Frankcom died after only about two weeks in Gaza. WCK sent Zomi and her team into grave danger unnecessarily – Palestinians can cook.  The naivety of the whole project is astounding.