World Central Kitchen (WCK) is to resume distributing food in Gaza, nearly a month after seven of its aid workers were killed in an Israeli air strike, the BBC reported on Sunday.
The aid organization said it has 276 trucks with eight million meals ready to enter through the Rafah crossing.
"Ultimately, we decided we must keep feeding," the charity said, as quoted by the BBC.
In a statement, WCK CEO Erin Gore said, "The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire. We are restarting our operation with the same energy, dignity, and focus on feeding as many people as possible."
The charity said it will also send trucks from Jordan and use the Ashdod Port, one of Israel's three main cargo ports, as well as build a third high production kitchen in Gaza.
Speaking on the fatal Israeli air strike, WCK said it was continuing to call for an impartial and international investigation into the deaths of the aid workers, which included three Britons, a Palestinian Arab, Australian, Pole and US-Canadian citizen.
"While we have no concrete assurances, we continue to seek answers and advocate for change with the goal of better protecting WCK and all NGO workers serving selflessly in the worst humanitarian conditions," Gore said.
IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said after the strike last month that it was a case of misidentification and the strikes were not meant to harm WCK workers.
Halevi noted that the IDF completed a preliminary debrief and added, “I want to be very clear—the strike was not carried out with the intention of harming WCK aid workers. It was a mistake that followed a misidentification–at night during a war in very complex conditions. It shouldn’t have happened.”
He continued, “We will continue taking immediate actions to ensure that more is done to protect humanitarian aid workers.”
“This incident was a grave mistake,” Halevi stressed. “Israel is at war with Hamas, not with the people of Gaza. We are sorry for the unintentional harm to the members of WCK. We share in the grief of their families, as well as the entire World Central Kitchen organization, from the bottom of our hearts.”
Earlier this month, Reshet Bet radio reported that Israel's defense echelon is tending towards approving an external investigation into the deaths of the WCK employees.
The investigation would be conducted by independent international organizations.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of the Seventh Day of Passover in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)