let people eat

In the worst conditions imaginable – after hurricanes, earthquakes, bombs and shootings – the best of humanity appears.

Not once or twice, but always.

The seven people killed on Monday in a mission Central World Cuisine In Gaza they were the best of humanity.

They are not faceless or nameless people.

They are not generic aid workers or collateral damage of war.

Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, John Chapman, Jacob Flickinger, Zomi Frankcom, James Henderson, James Kirby and Damian Sobol risked everything for the most human activity within it:

sharing our food with others.

They are the people I served with Ukraine, Türkiye, Morocco, Bahamas, Indonesia, Mexico, Gaza and Israel.

They were much more than heroes.

Their work was based on the simple belief that food is a universal human right.

It does not depend on whether we are good or bad, rich or poor, right or left.

We don’t ask you what religion you belong to.

We only ask how many meals you need.

From day one we have fed both Israelis and Palestinians.

In all of Israel, we have served more than 1.75 million hot meals.

We fed families displaced by Hezbollah rockets in the north.

We fed grieving families in the South.

We delivered meals to hospitals where the hostages were reunited with their families.

We have asked for it constantly, repeatedly and passionately publication of all the hostages.

We have always communicated extensively with Israeli civilian and military officials.

At the same time, we have worked closely with community leaders in Gaza and Arab nations in the region.

There is no way to lead to boat full of food in Gaza without doing so.

This is how we serve more than 43 million meals in Gazapreparing hot meals in the 68 community kitchens where Palestinians feed Palestinians.

We know the Israelis.

The Israelis, in their hearts, know this food is not a weapon of war.

Israel is better than the way this war is being fought.

It’s better than blocking food and medicine from civilians.

It’s better than killing the aid workers who had coordinated their movements with the Israel Defense Forces.

Today the Israeli government must open more land routes for food and medicine.

We must stop killing civilians and aid workers today.

The long game must start today path towards peace.

In the worst conditions, after the worst terrorist attack in its history, it is time for the best of Israel to appear.

It is not possible to save the hostages by bombing every building in Gaza.

This war cannot be won by starving an entire population.

We welcome the government’s promise to investigate how and why members of our World Central Kitchen family were murdered.

The investigation must begin from abovenot just underneath.

The prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu He said that the murder of our comrades at the hands of the Israelis is something that “it happens in war”.

This was a direct attack on clearly marked vehicles whose movements were known to the Israel Defense Forces.

It was also the direct result of a policy that reduced humanitarian aid to desperate levels.

Our team was on the way to a delivery of almost 400 tons of aid by sea, our second shipment, funded by the United Arab Emirates, supported by Cyprus and authorized by the Israel Defense Forces.

Team members risked their lives precisely because food aid is so scarce and desperately needed.

According to the global initiative Integrated classification of food safety phaseshalf of Gaza’s population – 1.1 million people – is at imminent risk of famine.

The team would not have undertaken that journey if there had been enough food, trucked in, to feed the people of Gaza.

The people of the Mediterranean and Middle East, regardless of ethnicity and religion, share a culture that values ​​food as a powerful statement of humanity and hospitality, of our shared hope for a better tomorrow.

There is a reason why, at this special time of year, Christians prepare Easter eggs, Muslims eat an egg to break their daily fast during Ramadan, and an egg is placed on the ritual seder plate.

This symbol of life and hope that is reborn in spring spreads across all religions and cultures.

I have been an outsider at seder dinners.

I heard the ancient Passover stories about being a stranger in the land of Egypt, the commandment to remember, with a feast before you, that the children of Israel were slaves.

Feeding strangers is not a sign of weakness, but of strength.

The people of Israel must remember, in this dark time, what strength truly is.

c.2024 The New York Times Company