Parents of the American-Canadian aid worker, who died in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza are demanding answers, and saying the governments left them in the dark about the incident.
Jacob Flickinger’s parents, American John Flickinger and Canadian Sylvie Labrecque said, on Thursday, that they have not heard any details about their son’s death from their elected officials.
The parents only confirmed his death through a call with the US embassy in Jerusalem.
“The United States Government or the Canadian Government haven’t told us anything,” John said on CBS Mornings.
“All we know is what we’ve read and seen in the media,” Flickinger said.
Questions still linger about the strike that killed Flickinger, 33, a new dad and his fellow World Central Kitchen (WCK) staffers.
An Israeli airstrike hit them as they delivered more than 100 tons of food to northern Gaza.
WCK founder and celebrity chef Jose Andres slammed Israel for the airstrike. Andres alleged that IDF “systematically” targeted his workers.
This was despite being in contact with the Israeli military as they made their delivery.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had apologised for the strike and attributed it to an error.
But John and Sylvie are demanding answers on how the mistake was made in the first place as they slammed the IDF as “extremely incompetent”.
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“They were aware, the entire world was aware, this food shipment was coming in,” John told CBS.
“WCK clearly marked the convoy. They also marked the vehicles. The facts on the ground indicated it wasn’t a ‘tragic accident’.
“If it was a terrible mistake, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt. And I don’t have a horse in this race in terms of the conflict.
“But then the Israeli military is extremely incompetent and the leaders that are running this campaign are incompetent,” he added.
“This is not the first aid convoy or group that has been accidentally killed.”
At least 196 humanitarian workers have died in Gaza since the outbreak of the war, according to the United Nations.
Sylvia describes her son, a Canadian Forces veteran of 11 years, as an “exceptional human being”.
“He made the tough choice of leaving behind his 18-month-old son to contribute to the humanitarian efforts in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of refugees are at risk of starvation.
“We’d never be able to stop his passion. That’s where his heart was,” Sylvia said of Flickinger’s volunteer work.
“He gave it all till the end.” (NYPost)
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