The Spanish non-governmental organisation Open Arms announced late on Thursday night that it would suspend its operations in Gaza following the killing of seven aid workers from the NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK) on Monday.
Open Arms had supplied the first ship, which goes by the same name, which set sail from Cyprus as part of its Amalthea humanitarian aid corridor to Gaza in March.
Theirs was then one of the three ships which set sail on the mission last week which ended with seven aid workers being killed and 240 tonnes of aid being returned to the island.
WCK then suspended its operations, and Open Arms have now followed suit.
“We demand answers and accountability for this unacceptable attack,” Open Arms director Oscar Camps said, which he also described as an “unthinkable act”.
He added that Gaza is a “dystopian laboratory where people’s blood flows while war technologies are tested and perfected, directed by increasingly automated algorithms that allow all human responsibility to be diluted, using technology and trivialising evil.
“How much more humanity must be lost in this genocide?” he asked.
A later statement from Open Arms said, “This attack, perpetrated by the Israeli Defence Forces last Monday, marks a painful turning point in our efforts to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”
Early on Friday morning, Israel announced that humanitarian aid deliveries would now be allowed to enter Gaza via the Ashdod port and then over land into Gaza through the Eretz crossing at Gaza’s northern edge.
The Israeli government said it was doing so to “ensure the continuation” of its military operations in the area and came after a telephone conversation between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and United States President Joe Biden.
Biden had on Thursday threatened to condition continued support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza on it taking concrete steps to protect aid workers and civilians. The warning marks the first time he has threatened to condition aid.
The White House said Biden had “made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers” during his half-hour telephone call with Netanyahu.
It added that Biden had “made clear that US policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these steps.”
Later, the White House welcomed the moves to open the Ashdod port and the Eretz crossing, but spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said they “must now be fully and rapidly implemented.”
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