The Polish government has classified the death of Polish aid worker Damian Soból and the deaths of six other humanitarian aid workers from the World Central Kitchen (WCK) during the Israel Defense Force (IDF) airstrikes as murder. Poland has requested full cooperation from Israel into the investigation of this incident.
The attack took place on April 1, during one of the IDF’s airstrikes. The WCK issued a statement confirming the deaths of seven of its international aid workers originating from countries such as Poland, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and the US, in addition to a Palestinian driver. These workers are classified under international humanitarian law as civilians and they were traveling in two vehicles marked with the WCK’s logo at the time of the incident.
Details of Soból’s demise were given by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Władysław Teofil Bartoszewski to the Polish parliament. The 35-year-old’s death was triggered by IDF’s airstrikes while he, along with other WCK’s volunteers, was providing humanitarian aid. Notably, Israel initially called the incident a ‘mistake’, a result of a misidentification, despite the vehicles being clearly marked.
After a conversation between Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski and the Israeli mission’s diplomatic head in Poland, Yacov Livne, the victims’ families are to receive compensation. However, Israel’s response was deemed insufficient by Poland. Consequently, a protest note demanding a transparent investigation was sent to Ambassador Livne by the Polish government.
The Polish Prosecutors Office initiated an investigation as per Article 148 of the Criminal Code, categorizing the assault on Soból as a murder. During the parliamentary debate that followed, several MPs argued that the attack was a war crime. MP Maciej Konieczny underlined that over 200 humanitarian workers had lost their lives in Gaza in the preceding six months.
The IDF released a report on April 5 regarding this attack corroborating the dismissal of two military officers responsible for the airstrikes while discussing the reprimand of several others involved. Prime Minister Netanyahu stressed the unintentional nature of the attack and also announced an exhaustive investigation into the matter.
However, a subsequent statement from the WCK reiterated IDF’s inability to distinguish the convoy during the airstrike. The importance of access to food, necessities, and medicine as a fundamental human right was highlighted and IDF was urged to maintain support for humanitarian aid in the conflict zone. Pending further measures to guarantee the safety of humanitarian workers, the WCK has suspended operations in the area.