World Central Kitchen Fires Over 60 Employees in Gaza Over Alleged Terror Ties

The World Central Kitchen (WCK), a US-based charity, fired at least 62 of its staff members in Gaza after Israel said they were linked to terrorist groups.

WCK, an NGO founded by celebrity chef José Andrés to help feed needy people caught in disasters or conflict zones, has been operating with roughly 500 employees in Gaza since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war. The charity has often engaged in heated public disputes with the Jewish state, accusing the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of purposefully targeting its workers with airstrikes — allegations that Jerusalem has adamantly rejected.

Israel has accused WCK of insufficiently vetting its workforce and employing terrorist members within its ranks.

In an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg, WCK informed its employees that it gave Israel names of staff members for background checks.

“In this process, some members of the team were flagged as security threats, so we were forced to let them go for the safety of everybody in Gaza,” WCK wrote, according to Bloomberg.

WCK workers confirmed the firings with Reuters. An Israeli security official told the news wire service that Israel had demanded an investigation into staff potentially linked to Hamas’s invasion of southern Israel last Oct. 7 after it said a WCK employee identified as Ahed Azmi Qdeih took part in the massacre.

Qdeih was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza on Nov. 30. At the time, WCK said it had no knowledge of an employee involved in the Oct. 7 onslaught, in which Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped over 250 hostages during their rampage in southern Israel.

The Israeli official said a security review found that 62 WCK employees had “affiliations and direct connections” with terrorist groups. “Consequently,” he told Reuters, “senior Israeli officials demanded that WCK terminate the employment of those workers.”

On Tuesday, WCK posted an official statement on its website confirming the release of several employees. The charity stated that Israel demanded the organization provide information on its staff to be used in background checks. Following the Israeli background checks, the organization agreed to “make changes” to its staff lineup but insisted that the decision “should not be taken as a conclusion” that any of its employees were tied to terrorist groups.

“After the tragic Nov. 30 attack, Israel publicly demanded an investigation into our hiring practices in Gaza, including security checks through COGAT, the Israeli department in charge of humanitarian aid,” WCK said in a statement.

“This should not be taken as a conclusion by WCK that the individuals are affiliated with any terror organization,” the statement continued. “Prior to receiving the results of the COGAT security check, we had no reason for concern regarding any of these individuals and, because Israel does not share intelligence with aid organizations, we do not know the basis for Israel’s decision to flag these individuals. However, we felt this step was necessary to protect our team and operations.”

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