The leader of a new culinary institute at GW on Wednesday decried the Israeli military’s killing of seven aid workers who worked for his humanitarian aid organization.

Celebrity chef José Andrés, the founder of World Central Kitchen, condemned the killing of seven aid workers who were in Gaza to feed Palestinians who are living on the cusp of famine due to Israeli restrictions on food deliveries into Gaza. Since the attack, WCK has halted its operations in Gaza and turned around three ships carrying hundreds of tons of food headed for Gaza, according to a New York Times report.

Andrés partnered with GW in 2023 to create the Global Food Institute, a research institute dedicated to reshaping food systems by improving global food sustainability, security and distribution.

“Israel is better than the way this war is being waged,” Andrés said in an article he penned for the Times on Wednesday. “It is better than blocking food and medicine to civilians. It is better than killing aid workers who had coordinated their movements with the Israel Defense Forces.”

The attack resulted in the deaths of seven aid workers: Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, Lalzawmi Frankcom, Damian Soból, Jacob Flickinger, John Chapman, James Henderson and James Kirby. Andrés told Reuters that he was supposed to be with his team but could not be in Gaza at the time.

1.1 million Gazans — almost half the population — are starving, according to a United Nations report. As of March 27, at least 27 people have starved to death in Gaza, according to Al Jazeera.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres last month called on Israeli authorities to ensure safe passage of humanitarian aid to Gaza, saying the near famine is entirely man-made.

Israel took responsibility for the “unintentional” attack on the WCK convoy, which had coordinated its movements with the Israeli military and was traveling in cars marked with the WCK logo. Andrés told Reuters that the IDF targeted the aid workers’ cars “systematically, car by car,” despite its knowledge of the group’s whereabouts.

“These are people I served alongside in Ukraine, Turkey, Morocco, the Bahamas, Indonesia, Mexico, Gaza and Israel,” Andrés said in the Times piece. “They were far more than heroes.”

WCK, which started in the wake of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, provides meals to those affected by man-made and natural disasters and serves meals based on regional cuisine. Before halting operations, the nonprofit was providing aid to Israel and Gaza, joining Ukraine as the second war zone in which the organization has operated.