Celebrity chef José Andrés’s humanitarian efforts in Gaza were disrupted on Thursday, when his World Central Kitchen operation axed dozens of workers with ties to terrorist organizations.

According to internal communications obtained by Bloomberg News, WCK disclosed to employees that it had submitted staff names to Israeli authorities for security screening.

“In this process, some members of the team were flagged as security threats, so we were forced to let them go for the safety of everybody in Gaza,” the memo reads.

The security review came after Israeli officials discovered that a WCK employee, Ahed Azmi Qdeih, had participated in Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel. Qdeih was later killed in a November 30 airstrike in Gaza. At the time of his death, WCK claimed no knowledge of any employee involvement in the October massacre, which resulted in 1,200 innocent deaths and over 250 hostages being taken back to Gaza.

While complying with Israeli demands, WCK maintains that the terminations should not be interpreted as confirmation of terrorist ties.

“Prior to receiving the results of the COGAT security check, we had no reason for concern regarding any of these individuals, and, because Israel does not share intelligence with aid organizations, we do not know the basis for Israel’s decision to flag these individuals. However, we felt this step was necessary to protect our team and operations,” a separate public statement by WCK reads.

Two armored cars belonging to WCK were hit on April 1 by an Israeli airstrike while leaving a warehouse in central Gaza. They had been in the process of unloading humanitarian aid that had been delivered from Cyprus. The Israeli military apologized for the unintentional deaths and dismissed two senior officers following an internal investigation.”