The devastated partner of the American-Canadian aid worker killed in an Israeli airstrike has demanded answers about what happened in Gaza – and called on President Biden to give “the truth” to the victims’ families.
Jacob Flickinger’s partner and the mother of his young son, Sandy Leclerc, complained that the situation surrounding Monday’s attack that left six World Central Kitchen employees and their Palestinian driver dead was still “so unclear ” a few days later.
“We need answers,” Leclec told ABC News on Thursday in his first television interview. “We need the truth about what happened because the situation is very unclear. »
“Please, Mr. Biden, give us the truth about what happened,” she added. “I need to know in depth what happened…I need to know everything.”
Leclerc, who shares a 1-year-old son with Flickinger, 33, told the outlet he would call her every day to say goodnight, but on Monday she realized he wasn’t calling her. A few minutes later, one of his colleagues contacted her to tell her that he had been killed, she recalls.
“I am devastated by this news,” she said through tears. “He was part of me. And he’s such a loving father to his son, and I don’t know how I’m going to explain to him that he’s now gone, so it’s a lot to deal with.
Flickinger, a Canadian military veteran, was traveling in a convoy with his World Central Kitchen colleagues after delivering 100 tons of food to a warehouse in northern Gaza, when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) attacked their vehicles from the air, even if two of the cars were clearly marked with the charity’s logo.
Also killed in the airstrike were Lalzawmi (Zomi) Frankcom, 43, of Australia, and Damian Sobol, 35, of Poland; three British citizens: James (Jim) Henderson, 33; James Kirby, 47; and John Chapman, 57; and the team’s Palestinian driver, Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, 25.
At the time of his death, Flickinger was days away from leaving Gaza, where he had been volunteering on the World Central Kitchen team since early March, according to his father John Flickinger speaking to The Daily Beast on Wednesday.
Flickinger had recently moved to Costa Rica to start a new life with his partner, Leclerc, and their son. From now on, the young mother declared that she will have to raise her little boy alone while keeping the memory of her heroic father alive.
“He was a man of service. He wanted to help,” she said. “I hope people remember him as such a brave man, willing to go out and help people.”
US organization World Central Kitchen, founded by celebrity chef José Andrés, claimed the attack on its staff traveling along a route pre-approved by the Israeli military was “targeted” – but Israel insisted the fact that it was the result of a nighttime misidentification.
The killing of aid workers sparked an international backlash, with a series of world leaders publicly condemning the actions of the Israeli military.
Biden said in a statement he was “outraged and heartbroken” by the incident, as he joined his global counterparts in calling for an independent investigation into the airstrike.
During a phone call Thursday between Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden stressed that the attack and the humanitarian situation in Gaza as a whole were unacceptable, according to the White House.
Netanyahu said in a video message Tuesday that the strike was “unintentional,” emphasizing that “this happens in times of war.”
In a new statement Friday, World Central Kitchen called for the creation of an independent commission to investigate the killings of aid workers, arguing that “the Israeli military cannot credibly investigate its own failure in Gaza.” .
New York Post
