Partner of American aid worker killed in Israeli airstrike demands answers from Biden: ‘Give us the truth’
The devastated partner of the Canadian American aid worker who was killed in an Israeli airstrike demanded answers about what happened in Gaza — and appealed to President Biden to give the victims’ families “the truth.”
Jacob Flickinger’s partner and the mother of his young son, Sandy Leclerc, complained that the situation surrounding the Monday attack that took the lives of six World Central Kitchen staffers and their Palestinian driver was still “so unclear” days later.
“We need some answers,” Leclec told ABC News Thursday in her first televised interview. “We need the truth of what happened because this situation is so unclear.”
“Please, Mr. Biden, give us the truth of what happened,” she added. “I need to know deeply what happened … I need to know everything.”
Leclerc, who shares a 1-year-old son with Flickinger, 33, told the outlet that he would call her every day to say good night, but on Monday, she realized that he hadn’t called her. A few minutes later, one of his co-workers contacted her to say he had been killed, she recalled.
“I am devastated by this news,” she said through tears. “He was a part of me. And he’s such a loving father to his son, and I don’t know how I’ll explain it to him that he is now gone, so this is a lot to process.”
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 though 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 UK 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 just days away from leaving Gaza, where he had been volunteering as part of World Central Kitchen’s team since early March, his father, John Flickinger, told the Daily Beast Wednesday.
Flickinger had recently moved to Costa Rica to start a new life with his partner, Leclerc, and their son. Now, the young mom said, she’ll have to raise their baby boy on her own while keeping his heroic dad’s memory alive for him.
“He was a man of service. He wanted to help,” she said. “I hope people remember him as such a brave man that was willing to go help people.”
The US-based World Central Kitchen, founded by celebrity chef José Andrés, claimed that the attack on its staff traveling along a route pre-approved by the IDF was “targeted” — but Israel insisted that it was a result of misidentification at night.
The killing of humanitarian workers triggered an international backlash, with a string of world leaders publicly condemning the Israeli military’s actions.
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.
In a phone call Thursday between Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden stressed that the attack and the humanitarian situation in Gaza writ large were unacceptable, according to the White House.
Netanyahu said in a video message Tuesday that the strike was “unintended,” noting that “this happens in war.”
In a new statement Friday, World Central Kitchen demanded the creation of an independent commission to investigate the aid workers’ slayings, arguing that “the IDF cannot credibly investigate its own failure in Gaza.”
