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5 people, including 4 international World Central Kitchen aid workers, killed by airstrike in Gaza, officials say
An airstrike killed four international aid workers and their Palestinian driver in Gaza on Monday, officials in the Palestinian territory said.
The aid workers were members of World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit founded by celebrity chef José Andrés that, according to the organization, has shipped more than 37 million meals to Palestinians in Gaza since Oct. 7. The aid workers were driving from Deir al-Balah to Rafah when their convoy was hit.
One worker was British, one was Polish and one was Australian, Gaza’s media office spokesperson said at a news conference. The fourth worker’s nationality was unknown as of Monday evening.
Graphic photographs showed the mangled, bloodied corpses of the aid workers, some still wearing World Central Kitchen t-shirts, with their passports.
A Palestinian Red Crescent paramedic who helped bring the bodies to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital told The Associated Press the workers were in a three-car convoy crossing out of northern Gaza when an Israeli missile hit.
“Following the reports regarding the World Central Kitchen personnel in Gaza today, the IDF is conducting a thorough review at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of this tragic incident,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement, adding that it had been working closely with World Central Kitchen “in their vital efforts to provide food and humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.”
World Central Kitchen via Reuters
World Central Kitchen said it was aware of reports of the attack. “This is a tragedy,” World Central Kitchen wrote on social media. “Humanitarian aid workers and civilians should NEVER be a target. EVER.”
In a lengthy social media post, Andrés said his organization had lost several “brothers and sisters in an IDF air strike in Gaza,” and called on the Israeli government to “stop killing civilians and aid workers, and stop using food as a weapon.”
“I am heartbroken and grieving for their families and friends and our whole WCK family,” Andrés wrote. These are people…angels…I served alongside in Ukraine, Gaza, Turkey, Morocco, Bahamas, Indonesia. They are not faceless…they are not nameless.”
The strike occurred two days after a three-ship convoy left a port in Cyprus with 400 tons of food and other supplies for Gaza amid concerns about an imminent famine in the territory. The U.S. has said it hopes the maritime route from Cyprus could provide an alternative lifeline for northern Gaza.
World Central Kitchen said the shipments bound for Gaza were loaded with rice, pasta, flour, legumes, canned vegetables and proteins, and contained enough food to prepare more than 1 million meals. Also on board were dates, which are traditionally eaten to break the daily fast during the holy month of Ramadan.
The United Nations and partners have warned that famine could occur very soon in devastated, largely isolated northern Gaza. CBS News previously reported that an estimated 1.7 million people in Gaza have been displaced in the territory, according to the U.N., with many having no access to food, water, medicine or appropriate shelter.
Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have been killed since Oct. 7, when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage. Israel responded with an air, land and sea offensive that has killed nearly 33,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but it says women and children make up around two-thirds of those killed.
—Camilla Schick and The Associated Press contributed reporting.
NEW YORK — Former New York Gov. David Paterson and his stepson were attacked in New York City on Friday night, authorities said.
The incident occurred just before 9 p.m. on Second Avenue near East 96th Street on the Upper East Side, according to the New York City Police Department.
Police said officers were sent to the scene after an assault was reported. When officers arrived, police say they found a 20-year-old man suffering from facial injuries and a 70-year-old man who had head pain. Both victims were taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the former governor said the two were attacked while “taking a walk around the block near their home by some individuals that had a previous interaction with his stepson.”
The spokesperson said that they were injured “but were able to fight off their attackers.”
Both were taken to Cornell Hospital “as a precaution,” he added.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The 70-year-old Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor from 2008 to 2010, stepping into the post after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer following his prostitution scandal. He made history at the time as the state’s first-ever Black and legally blind governor.
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A 17-year-old boy was critically injured and a person is in custody after a gunman opened fire on a SEPTA bus in North Philadelphia Friday evening, police said.
At around 6:15 p.m., Philadelphia police were notified about a shooting on a SEPTA bus traveling on Allegheny Avenue near 3rd and 4th streets in North Philadelphia, Inspector D F Pace told CBS News Philadelphia.
There were an estimated 30 people on the bus at the time of the shooting, Pace said, but only the 17-year-old boy was believed to have been shot. Investigators said they believe it was a targeted attack on the teenager and that he was shot in the back of the bus at close range.
According to Pace, the SEPTA bus driver alerted a control center about the shooting, which then relayed the message to Philadelphia police, who responded to the scene shortly.
Officers arrived at the scene and found at least one spent shell casing and blood on the bus, but no shooting victim, Pace said. Investigators later discovered the 17-year-old had been taken to Temple University Hospital where he is said to be in critical condition, according to police.
CBS Philadelphia
Through their preliminary investigation, police learned those involved in the SEPTA shooting may have fled in a silver-colored Kia.
Authorities then found a car matching the description of the Kia speeding in the area and a pursuit began, Pace said. Police got help from a PPD helicopter as they followed the Kia, which ended up crashing at 5th and Greenwood streets in East Mount Airy. Pace said the Kia crashed into a parked car.
The driver of the crashed car ran away but police were still able to take them into custody, Pace said.
Investigators believe there was a second person involved in the shooting who ran from the car before it crashed. Police said they believe this person escaped near Allegheny Avenue and 4th Street, leaving a coat behind.
According to Pace, police also found a gun and a group of spent shell casings believed to be involved in the shooting in the same area.
“It’s very possible that there may have been a shooting inside the bus and also shots fired from outside of the bus toward the bus,” Pace said, “We’re still trying to piece all that together at this time.”
This is an active investigation and police are reviewing surveillance footage from the SEPTA bus.