9 killed after Gazan kitchen co-run by S'pore charity is hit in air strike

When he was informed that a reported Israeli air strike killed nine people working in a Gazan kitchen jointly run by the charitable organisation he founded, Singaporean Gilbert Goh's heart sank.

- Aqil Hamzah

The 62-year-old, who is behind Love Aid Singapore, has been raising funds for kitchens operating in the Jabalia and Rafah refugee camps since January, working in tandem with the International Relief Organisation (IRO), which runs them.

These kitchens prepare hot meals for displaced Palestinians, but after the air strike on Jabalia camp on March 2, their activities have been put on hold.

Mr Goh told The Straits Times in a phone call from Cairo on March 4 that he was devastated when he received the news the previous day.

"This is the first time that I've been involved in a humanitarian mission where the people I work with have been killed," he said.

"It's been a huge shock. You just don't expect the people you work with to die, even though I know this is the kind of thing that will happen in a war."