Saifeddin Abutaha, an aid worker with World Central Kitchen, was on his way home to see his mother when an Israeli missile hit the car he was driving in a humanitarian convoy last week.
Mr. Abutaha, 25, loves his parents and often texts them while delivering aid in the Gaza Strip, which is on the brink of famine after six months of war. In his final hours, his brother, Abdul Raziq Abutaha, said in an interview that he had to juggle delivering food and planning the family's Ramadan celebrations.
But since his death on April 1, their mother Inshirah – who once dreamed of seeing Saifeddin get married – has been unable to accept that he is gone.
Abdul Raziq, 33, said: “She hasn't eaten since he passed away. He said she kept saying: “'He'll be back soon, maybe for Eid'” — the holiday that marks the end of Ramadan. It starts on Wednesday. Saif won't be there.
The killing of seven World Central Kitchen employees in an Israeli attack on April 1 drew international outrage, especially from the countries where six of them were hailed: Britain, Lan, Australia, Canada and the United States.
Mr. Abutaha, a Palestinian from Gaza, was also killed in the attack. His death highlights the grim reality that most of the more than 200 aid workers who have died since Israel's bombing of Gaza began were Palestinian. based on United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Last week, he called for an independent investigation into the individual deaths, which have attracted less attention than the killings of foreign aid workers.
Palestinian workers are the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza, as are local staff in any war zone or disaster area where aid groups operate. They provide vital connections and practical expertise to foreign staff unfamiliar with the area, and enable them to carry out relief projects and liaise with people which they are serving.
Mr. Abutaha worked for World Central Kitchen as a driver and translator, helping his staff navigate the bureaucracy, political climate and streets of the places where he grew up and where aid was delivered. extremely necessary until the missile attack. His association with a well-known and well-organized group brought something unusual in Gaza today: a semblance of safety, his family said.
“We never thought Saif would be hit or killed,” Abdul Raziq said last week. “This is an international humanitarian group that is highly coordinated with Israel and its military.”
That coordination did not protect Mr. Abutaha and his colleagues. An internal investigation by concluded the Israeli army their murder was a “serious mistake” caused by a number of errors and broken protocols, and it was discovered that the officers had given the order attack on aid convoy based in part on incomplete and flawed evidence that the passengers in one of the cars were armed.
Israel said several soldiers involved in the attack were reprimanded or fired.
But José Andrés, the famous celebrity chef and founder of World Central Kitchen, has demanded an independent investigation. On Sunday, in an interview on ABC's “This Week,” he said “the perpetrator cannot investigate on his own.”
“It was clear that this was the target,” Mr. Andrés said of the killings, carried out in three separate strikes, one after the other, on three vehicles carrying workers. “We could argue that the first was, so to speak, a mistake. Second letter? Third wheel?”
According to Israeli authorities, Israel began its military operation in Gaza after an October 7 attack led by Hamas that killed about 1,200 people near the border. Israel said its goal is to destroy this group.
But although the war has killed more than 33,000 people in Gaza, Hamas has not been destroyed, according to local health officials. Most of its senior leaders are still alive, its warriors are still active and it has regrouped in parts of Gaza.
Abdul Raziq Abutaha said that before the war began, his younger brother was ready for the bright future any young person could hope for in the Gaza Strip, which has been blockaded by Egypt and Israel since then. when Hamas came to power there in 2007.
Abdul Raziq said Saif studied at Ajman University in the United Arab Emirates and worked in the UAE until his father asked him to return to the country in 2020. He wanted Saif to help run the business. family business, a flour mill.
But operating the factory became impossible during the war after Israeli attacks destroyed much of Gaza's civilian infrastructure and left the company without basic raw materials such as electricity or flour. .
One day, however, World Central Kitchen employees visited the family's warehouse and liked what they saw. Abdul Raziq said they chose this location as their headquarters in Gaza after coordinating with the Israeli army.
The aid workers began living in an apartment inside the factory, and they and their families quickly became close, sharing meals and bonding over the trauma of war.
“We love them and they love us,” Abdul Raziq said.
World Central Kitchen staff asked Saif to translate for them during a meeting, then hired him as a driver and translator. He and the foreign staff quickly became inseparable, his sister Amani said in an interview with Al-Ghad TVan Arabic channel.
“He was always with the foreigners, translating for them and he would go and collect aid,” she said. “Because he lived in Gaza and knew the streets of Gaza well, he was a driver.”
Abdul Raziq said his brother was “overjoyed” to find a job helping war victims, and their family found a blessing in disguise when “his brother died while on duty to provide provide food to the poor and starving” during the holy month. of the month of Ramadan.
Abdul Raziq said that on the day Saif died, World Central's small kitchen team left their base in the southern Gaza Strip and headed north. Saif is in contact with his family throughout the day; His sister, Amani, said her last communication with him was at 4 p.m., when Saif sent her a selfie he took while waiting for the freight train to arrive.
“I told him to take care of himself and pray that God would protect him,” she said. “He replied, 'I trust in God.' Little did I know that soon God would take everything away.”
Saif also texted Abdul Raziq to say he was going home to prepare for the Ramadan fast the next day with their mother. He then sent one last text to their mother, asking, “Are you in bed yet, Mom?”
