Stephen Colbert Showcases World Central Kitchen Deaths: 'This Is Not an Isolated Incident'

In a new episode of The Late Showhost Stephen Colbert emphasized the need to “talk about what everybody's talking about” and opened the show by commenting on the deaths of seven World Central Kitchen workers in Gaza this week.

“I hope there's one thing we can all agree on: human beings have to have food and water,” Colbert said after acknowledging the vast differences in opinion on the current conflict between Israel and Hamas. “Here's the thing, on Monday seven World Central Kitchen helpers were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of these heroes.”

The host read the names of the workers, adding “How could this happen? Despite the World Central Kitchen coordinating their movements with the Israeli military and the team leaving the warehouse in central Gaza after unloading the food shipments, they were hit by multiple Israeli precision strikes.

Colbert recounted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's response to the attack, in which he claimed, “This is what happens in war.” “Then you might consider ending the war,” Colbert replied. “Because this is not an isolated incident.”

He explained that more than 200 international aid workers have been killed in Gaza since the start of the conflict, as well as thousands of innocent people. Colbert noted that World Central Kitchen is “near and dear” to his heart as it is run by his friend José Andrés. “They go in there with the food and do the work,” he said of WCK, which does not take part in their efforts to feed people in disaster areas. “It's like Seal Team DoorDash.”

“Instead of being welcomed they were attacked by the IDF and Hamas took members of their group in for questioning,” Colbert continued. “Whatever you think should happen in Israel and Gaza, I hope we can all agree that people should be allowed to eat.”

WCK workers were traveling in two armored cars with the charity's logo in a conflict-free zone when they were killed, WCK said in statement which was issued on Tuesday morning. “Despite coordinating movements with the IDF, the convoy was hit as it left the Deir al-Balah warehouse, where the group had unloaded more than 100 tons of humanitarian food aid brought to Gaza by sea,” the organization confirmed.

Yesterday, Andrés told Reuters in an interview that the workers were targeted “systematically, car by car”. “It wasn't just a bad luck situation where 'oops' we dropped the bomb in the wrong place,” Andrés said. “Even if we weren't in sync with her [Israel Defense Forces]no democratic country and no army can target civilians and humanitarians.”

The founder also published an article The New York Times on Wednesday, we remember the victims as more than “general aid workers or collateral damage in war.”

“In the worst conditions imaginable – after hurricanes, earthquakes, bombs and shootings – the best of humanity emerges. Not once or twice, but always,” wrote Andrés. “The seven people killed in a World Central Kitchen mission in Gaza on Monday were the best of humanity. They are not faceless or anonymous.”