José Andrés: Israel committing ‘war against humanity’

Celebrity chef and humanitarian José Andrés argued Israel is committing a “war against humanity itself,” after an Israeli drone strike last week killed seven aid workers with his charity group, World Central Kitchen.

“This is not anymore about the seven men and women of World Central Kitchen that perished on this unfortunate event. This is happening for way too long. It’s been six months of targeting anything that seems moves,” Andrés said in an interview airing Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”

“This doesn’t seem a war against terror. This doesn’t seem anymore a war about defending Israel. This really, at this point, seems it’s a war against humanity itself,” he continued.

He said he was thankful to the Israeli military for quickly investigating the incident but believes a deeper, more independent probe is necessary.

“I will say something — so complicated — the investigation should be much more deeper,” Andrés said. “And I would say that the perpetrator cannot be investigating himself.”

Six workers with the World Central Kitchen and their Palestinian driver were killed last Monday as they were leaving a warehouse in central Gaza. Their deaths sparked immediate scrutiny over Israel’s wartime campaign in Gaza and the level of precautions taken to avoid civilian and humanitarian workers’ deaths.

Days later, the Israeli military released a preliminary investigation that found the military mistakenly thought a convoy carrying the workers, who had communicated their movements to the military, were armed Hamas fighters. It dismissed two officers and reprimanded others.

“The strike on the aid vehicles is a grave mistake stemming from a serious failure due to a mistaken identification, errors in decision-making, and an attack contrary to the Standard Operating Procedures,” the Israeli military said last week.

Andrés argued the army cannot just immediately point to Hamas.

 “Every time something happens, we cannot just be bringing Hamas into the equation,” he said.

The war between Israel and Hamas — a U.S.-designated terrorist organization — has raged on for nearly six months following the group’s surprise incursion in southern Israel on Oct. 7. Hamas’s attacks killed more than 1,100 people in Israel, while around 250 others were taken hostage. 

About 100 of these hostages were returned in a weeklong cease-fire late last year, and an estimated 100 others are believed to still be alive in Gaza. 

Israel quickly launched a military campaign in October to destroy Hamas, and more than 32,700 people have been killed in Gaza since early October.

Updated at 9:49 a.m. EDT