Jose Andres, the celebrity chef who founded the World Central Kitchen, said the organization's seven aid workers killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza represented the "best of humanity" and risked everything "to feed people they did not know and will never meet."
Andres' remarks came during a memorial service that was attended by hundreds, and punctuated by grief and ongoing questions about the attack.
Speaking at Washington National Cathedral, Andres said there was no excuse for the killings and he called for an investigation into the deaths. He appeared to struggle at times to maintain his composure, his words focused on the lives and contributions of the aid workers as he pleaded for greater compassion.
"The seven souls we mourn today were there so that hungry people could eat," said Andres, reading aloud their names. "Their examples should inspire us to do better, to be better."
The workers were killed April 1 when strikes from Israeli armed drones ripped through vehicles in their convoy as they left one of World Central Kitchen’s warehouses on a food delivery mission: Palestinian Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha; Britons John Chapman, James Kirby and James Henderson; dual U.S.-Canadian citizen Jacob Flickinger; Australian Lalzawmi Frankcom; and Polish citizen Damiam Sobol.
Andres spoke in depth about each one and their contributions to the work of feeding people suffering through disaster and deprivation – human-made and natural – around the world.
He said Abutaha was an integral member of the team who was very close to his family. He said Chapman was "brave, selfless and strong" and had the ability to make people around him feel "loved and protected."
Andres said Flickinger was a problem-solver, "exactly what you need" in the chaos of a disaster zone and Frankcom gave "joy to others even more than she gave food."
He talked of how Henderson had taught first aid in Ukraine and was an avid rugby player. He said Kirby, known to friends as "Kirbs," was driven to help people in need. And he said a town in Türkiye had named a street after Sobol, in honor of his work there after an earthquake.
Official explanation 'not good enough'
At times, Andres spoke emotionally about the organization's mission and why aid workers do what they do.
"We stand next to communities as they feed themselves, nourish themselves, heal themselves. People don’t want our pity. They want our respect. Our only way to show respect is facing the mayhem alongside them," he said. "We remind them by showing up that they are not alone in the darkness."
After an unusually swift investigation, Israel said the military officials involved in the attack had violated policy by acting based on a single grainy photo that one officer had contended – incorrectly – showed one of the seven workers was armed. The Israeli military dismissed two officers and reprimanded three others.
"I know we all have many unanswered questions about what happened and why. There is no excuse for these killings," Andres told mourners, demanding an investigation. "The official explanation is not good enough."
The aid workers, whose trip had been coordinated with Israeli officials, are among more than 220 humanitarian workers killed by Israel since it launched relentless military strikes on Gaza on Oct. 7 after a surprise cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.
That number includes at least 30 killed in the line of duty, according to the United Nations.
The international prominence and popularity of Andres and his nonprofit work galvanized widespread outrage over the killings of the group’s workers.
Palestinian civilians in Gaza are facing a humanitarian crisis and desperately need aid from relief organizations as the U.N. warns of looming famine.
World Central Kitchen, along with several other humanitarian aid agencies, suspended work in the territory after the attack.
"We haven’t given up," World Central Kitchen spokesperson Linda Roth said last week. "We are in funeral mode right now."
Douglas Emhoff, husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, and Kurt Campbell, the deputy secretary of state, were among those at the event, joined by diplomats from more than 30 countries, along with representatives from the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, one of the most active lawmakers pushing President Joe Biden to condition military aid on improved Israeli treatment of aid workers and Palestinian civilians, joined the mourners as a lone bagpiper played.