WCK attack fits Israeli history of targeting aid workers in Gaza, West Bank: US rights advocate

“I definitely believe that it’s a pattern that Israel targets humanitarian aid workers, not just in this conflict, but throughout the history of their involvement in Gaza and the West Bank,” Charles McBryde, who has over half a decade of experience in the humanitarian sector, told Anadolu.
McBryde played an active role in aid work in the Ukraine war and earthquake relief efforts in Türkiye, where his paths crossed with the US-based WCK.
“There are multiple instances of Israel deliberately targeting aid workers as part of this war, and I think this is simply the latest example of that,” he said, pointing out that over 200 humanitarian workers have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7.
As for the April 1 strike on the WCK aid convoy, he said the trucks were clearly marked with the charity’s logo, and “Israel targeted them and then retargeted them with three different strikes.”
“They ensured that every member of that team was killed over a 0.5-mile radius,” he added.
The attack killed seven aid workers in total – three British nationals, an Australian, a Polish national, a US-Canadian dual citizen, and a Palestinian.
It has triggered strong condemnation around the globe and calls for accountability, with many, including WCK founder Jose Andres, disputing Israel’s claim that it was a “mistake” and a case of “misidentification.”
McBryde also cast doubt over the Israeli claim, saying the explanation that this was the work of a rogue operator is quite puzzling, considering how often Israel has spoken about its rigid protocols.
Regarding investigations that showed Israel has been using artificial intelligence in its assault on Gaza, he said such targeting software are known to have a “high margin of error.”
“None of Israel’s explanations for how this (attack) went down makes sense, whether it was a deliberate strike that went through the entire chain of command, a rogue operator, or someone who was targeted via artificial intelligence software and then someone approved the strike,” he said.
Israel ‘absolutely allergic to accountability’
The WCK attack, according to McBryde, are making people realize that there is a “huge amount of dissonance” in Israel’s claims and actions.
Israel frequently boasts of its highly effective intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance abilities, he said, which is either because it truly believes itself to be “extremely effective at differentiating civilian targets from militants” or it wants the “world to believe that it is extremely effective.”
“This dichotomy makes every one of their official explanations all the more suspect,” he said.
“Every claim that they make further muddles what they want the world to believe about their warfighting capabilities and priorities, and leaves the distinct impression that they are simply just lying, incompetent, deliberately misbehaving, or all three.”
He said the Israeli public relations effort seems “unsure” about whether to try to “gaslight the world into thinking Israel is highly competent or completely incompetent.”
“They depict themselves alternately as highly professional and disciplined, capable of preserving civilian life, or prone to mistakes but under undue pressure and unfair outside expectations about avoiding civilian casualties,” said McBryde.
The only thing that remains consistent is Israel’s insistence that it should be viewed as “guiltless” for all of its actions, he said.
“They are absolutely allergic to accountability … Their main sponsors have never demanded accountability ... so Israelis feel no need to worry about it,” he added.
Gears of accountability turning
McBryde believes a potential outcome of the WCK attack could be Israel finally being held accountable for its “genocide” in Gaza, where it has now killed nearly 33,200 Palestinians, a majority of them women and children, and injured almost 76,000.
Israel’s devastating war has laid waste to most of the besieged enclave, displacing millions and leaving them facing starvation due to a crippling blockade on aid and essentials.
“I think that it is the ultimate tragedy to see what happened to the World Central Kitchen aid workers, some of whom were coworkers of dear friends of mine,” he said.
“It is also potentially inspiring that these deaths … may be the ones who ended up bringing accountability to Israel and having them finally experience consequences as a result of their actions.”
These deaths are “terrible and incalculable” cost to pay, but the fact that they are “finally seeming to turn the gears of accountability … and making Israel responsible for their genocide in Gaza is encouraging to me,” he added.
However, the power to make that happen still lies with Western governments that have been backing Israel, including the US, UK, France, and Germany, he said.
These nations “hold the keys to Israel’s ability to continue carrying out a genocide in the Gaza Strip,” he added.
“We are the ones who enable them. We can put a stop to it,” he asserted.
Many coming to ‘conclusion that Israel is the bad actor’
Another consequence of the WCK strike is that it reaffirms the shift among aid workers and groups who have started to recognize Israel as the “bad actor,” according to McBryde.
“I watched over the past six months as, one by one, almost every person that I knew in the aid community started to turn against Israel after watching their behavior,” he said.
“People who were initially very sympathetic to Israel’s version and to Israel’s narrative about Palestinians started to slowly turn against them as they realized this.”
McBryde cited WCK founder Andres as an example, pointing out that he has flipped from the position that saw him criticize Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez for using the term genocide for Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Today he is “completely calling out Israel, blaming them for this attack, telling the world that it was deliberate,” said the American rights advocate.
“So, I think it’s important to realize that the people who have no political reason to support the Palestinians and are analyzing this from an objective standpoint, have pretty much all come to the conclusion that Israel is the bad actor,” he said.