Lori Falce: Humanitarians fighting famine cannot be targeted in war

Famine is supposed to be like earthquakes and tidal waves — an unstoppable force that happens through no one’s fault.

No one conjures a drought from thin air. No one causes a blight on crops. Other than that one time in the Bible, a plague of locusts was not a punishment visited upon the people.

And that is why José Andres has been such a powerful force for good. His World Central Kitchen has become a staple of response to natural disasters. When a hurricane hits or a wildfire blazes through or when tornadoes tear up the landscape, this Spanish celebrity chef sends in his people to do what they do best. They feed people.

They are a different kind of humanitarian response but no less needed than the American Red Cross or Doctors Without Borders. The food they provide does more than just fill a bowl or a belly. It offers hope and normalcy. The value of a meal in a crisis is hard to overestimate.

But they have not just responded to acts of God. The organization has also responded to acts of war. Apolitical and unaffiliated with any government, World Central Kitchen has only one criterion for its services. If you are hungry, it will feed you.

Since the Hamas attacks on Israel in October, the organization has served 42 million meals in Gaza. While others focus on cease-fire pleas and hostage negotiations and the round-robin of responsibility that has been the history of the area, Andres and his people fight only one enemy: hunger.

And there is a lot to fight in Palestine right now. Israel’s response to the attack has included a lockdown of borders, meaning widespread starvation has become a very real factor. The U.S. has tried to fight it with air drops and plans to build its own pier on the Gaza coast. World Central Kitchen just kept serving food.

While the United Nations debated, the cooks cooked. While American legislators took sides, they ladled. As celebrities spoke and protesters protested, they dished up what they could.

But Monday, the food stopped when a convoy including World Central Kitchen workers and 100 tons of food was attacked. Seven aid workers, including Jacob Flickinger, 33, a dual citizen of the United States and Canada, were killed. Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu took responsibility for the attack but said it was unintentional.

“It happens in war, and we are thoroughly investigating it,” he said.

Many things happen in war. People die, children suffer, buildings fall. And people go hungry.

But what is happening in Gaza is a man-made famine. It is the weaponizing of people’s hunger against them, as if the missiles were not enough.

War is seldom conducted according to rules. But if there is just one, it must be that those whose only weapon is a soup pot are not targeted for trying to simply ease suffering.