Press release

GAZA, A BRIDGE FOR: 'ATTACK ON AID WORKERS DELIBERATE, CEASEFIRE ESSENTIAL FOR AID DISTRIBUTION'

Rome, 3 April 2024 - "Excuses for making a mistake in the killing of the 7 aid workers of the World Central Kitchen organisation do not hold water. The manner in which the humanitarian convoy, which had followed all the procedures dictated by the Israeli Army and whose insignia was visible from above, was hit suggests a deliberate attack, in some ways a targeted execution. Our solidarity with our colleagues at WCK is total, as is our outrage at those responsible for this umpteenth violation of humanitarian law".

This was stated in a statement by Angelica Romano and Alfio Nicotra, national co-presidents of Un Ponte Per, an NGO that has been working in the Middle East since 1991.

"The decision by WCK and other NGOs to suspend the distribution of aid to the exhausted population," Nicotra and Romano continue, " is due to the total lack of credibility of the assurances given by the Israelis on the safety of the convoys and the personnel accompanying them. Humanitarian workers, hospitals, ambulances, places protected by international law, have been targets of Israeli weapons to the extent of producing a very painful and long list of 196 operators murdered since 7 October to date'.

"Only a true and prolonged ceasefire can allow the safe distribution of aid," Romano and Nicotra point out, "and the failure to comply with the UN Security Council resolution and the prescriptions issued by the International Court of Justice ruling on this issue should push our governments to issue economic sanctions and block all arms deliveries to Israel.

"For our part," conclude the two co-chairs of Un Ponte Per, "we will continue as long as we can, through our Palestinian partner, theUnion of Agricultural Work Committes (UAWC), the 'Water for Gaza' campaign to try to stem the tide of dehydration and gastrointestinal illnesses caused by drinking contaminated water. However, we expect that this new massacre will prompt the international community to take all appropriate steps to protect the civilian population from the illegal use of hunger and thirst as a tool of war'.