on the go turkey tours

TTC family of brands

My Trafalgar

Destinations

Get Inspired

866 513 1995

See All Turkey Tours

Trending Turkey tours

Best of Greece

14 Locations

2 Countries

Consider extending your holiday beyond The Best of Greece. Set your sights on the Cyclades and cruise to the idyllic Greek Islands of Mykonos and Santorini.

Save up to $313

Best of Turkey

17 Locations

From the legends of Troy to ancient Greek cities, your travels will reveal the places where history happened. On this in-depth Best of Turkey voyage, you’ll also venture into the Taurus Mountains for lunch with the Yazir community and relax on the shores of the Turkish Riviera.

Deals available

Save up to $553

Best of Italy and Greece

16 Locations

4 Countries

Admire the art and architecture of Rome and the rich cultural heritage of Florence. Visit the monasteries of Meteora and see the site of the most important oracle in the classical world.

Save up to $375

Highlights of Turkey

15 Locations

Travel along the age-old trading routes that linked East and West, where the Highlights of Turkey are revealed. Haggle in Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar, daydream through the fairy-tale landscapes of Cappadocia and walk in the footsteps of the ancient Greeks in Ephesus.

Internal flights included

See More Turkey Trips

5 million happy guests and counting

Turkish lira

Capital City

Good morning

Good evening

İyi akşamlar

"It is always my pleasure to introduce my country to our guests. Trafalgar trips in Turkey, the cradle of civilisations, offer not only deep history, wonderful museums, great cities, amazing architecture but breathtaking natural beauty as well"

Barcin, Travel Director

Dine listening to Turkish folk and watching belly dancing

Slip into the Karsilama rhythm for a night of Turkish dance and folk music. The seductive art of belly dancing originated in Egypt but has found an energetic form here in Turkey. Take to the stage and try your hand and hips at these skillful moves. 

See the House of Virgin Mary at Mt. Koressos

A humble stone house dating back to the Apostolic Age, the significance of Mt. Koressos's House of Virgin Mary sits within its Catholic mythology. The site where Jesus's mother was said to spend her last days on earth, this shrine attracts pilgrims from near and far.

Relax in the water of Pamukkale's Cotton Castle Springs

Found in River Menderes valley, the Cotton Castle Springs of Pamukkale will leave you in awe of Mother Nature. Soak in the steaming waters of the travertine terraces that are known for their dense mineral content, allowing plenty of time to photograph the milky blue pools and the snow-like setting.

Savor the intoxicating smells of the Spice Market in Ankara

In the nation's capital, dried fruits, nutty sweets and endless spices will entice your senses. Take time to wander the street of Çıkrıkçılar Yokuşu before moving closer to Ankara Castle, where you can shop for silver and ceramics while eating your delicious snacks.

Visit the peculiar landscapes of Cappadocia

One of the top things to do in Turkey, be amazed by the peculiar landscapes of Cappadocia covered in cave hotels and hot air balloons. Visit the so-called fairy chimney rock formations and discover remarkable beauty in the underground Bronze Age homes.

Our top 5 things to do in Turkey

From the otherworldly hot springs of Pamukkale to the balloon covered valleys of Cappadocia, these are just some of the pinch-me moments to experience on our trips to Turkey.

Hagia Sophia

A 6th-century masterpiece showing the opulence of distant eras, Hagia Sophia is a former cathedral transformed into a mosque before finding its current form as a museum. Stare upwards in awe of dome ceilings and ornate chandeliers before stepping outside to take in the external beauty from various angles.

Istanbul Archeology Museum

Connect with an unfathomable depth of history in Turkey's Archaeology Museums. Featuring three buildings, the collections found here unlock the ancient orient and showcase the finest in Islamic art. Allow a whole day to get lost in the depths of distant eras.

Istanbul Modern

Contemporary Turkish artists take the stage in the museum of Istanbul Modern. Housed in a former maritime warehouse, the building now features a cinema, library, gift shop and restaurant with views of the Bosphorus River. Find hours of entertainment within these progressive walls.

Best museums in Turkey

Ready yourself for dazzling cathedrals, contemporary artworks and archaeological marvels on your Turkey trip. Trafalgar will take you under the skin of this country through its soul-stirring museum collection.

Pistachios, pastry and honey come together to create the delicious sweet of baklava. Connected to stories of Sultans and layered with history, sample this treat many times over in the name of culture. Find many moreish trays in any Turkish food market.

Fill your tour of Turkey with copious amounts of the country's famous bread. Typically filled with stringy cheese and spinach, the pie meets pizza snack perfectly compliments a cup of sweet Turkish tea or a stroll around the city.

Balik Ekmek

Balik Ekmek is a popular street food of oily fish wedged between two layers of soft Turkish bread. Traditionally dished up on a boat direct from the fisherman, find this lunch staple and enjoy it while walking along the Bosporus River.

Best food in Turkey

A tantalizing blend between Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine, we'll uncover the very best of Turkish food. From baklava to cheesy pides, with many glasses of hot tea in between.

What to pack for Turkey

A thirst for adventure

A Turkish Hammam scrub is a ritual you need to enjoy when visiting this country. Often teamed with communal bathing and occasionally requiring full nudity, pack your confidence to enjoy this tradition that is truly doing as the locals do.

Modest clothing

Turkey is a religious and somewhat traditional country. Pack modest full-length clothing so you can respectfully enjoy momentous religious sights.

A good camera

A smartphone won't suffice when trying to capture a peculiar desert framing a sky of hot air balloons. Pack a good camera so you can snap Turkey to its full beauty.

Old swimwear

Dense in minerals, Turkey's Pamukkale's Cotton Castle Springs may aggravate your swimming clothes should you take a dip. Pack something old and submerge until your heart is content.

Spare suitcase space

Baklava, tea, carpets and jewelry are just some of the goods that will entice you when shopping in Turkey. Leave space for the many treats and trinkets you will want to take home.

Our Europe & Britain destinations

Bosnia Herzegovina

Czech Republic

Liechtenstein

North Macedonia

Netherlands

Northern Ireland

Switzerland

Italy Test 02

Other worldwide regions we visit

Africa the Middle East

Australia and New Zealand

North and Central America

South America

Get your free brochure

Find your next escape with the world's leading travel brand

Request A Brochure

Award winning tours

Every year, we're proud to win some of the most prestigious travel accolades around the world - from the Travel Globes to the Agent's Choice Awards

Search Our Tours

Help & Info

WE MAKE TRAVEL MATTER®

Unedited Reviews

Our Destination Management Companies

Frequently Asked Questions

Travel Updates

Media & Press Room

Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information

Travel Planning

Get Your Free Brochure

Travel Insurance

Booking Conditions

Trip Deposit Level

Recommendations

Trafalgar is a proud member of  The Travel Corporation  family of companies.

#SimplyTrafalgar

Selected Region

United States

United Kingdom

New Zealand

South Africa

Copyright 2024 Trafalgar. All rights reserved.

Terms and Conditions

Privacy Policy

Cookie Policy

On The Go Tours

Global operator

Service level

Travelers age

Trip prices

$85 — 15,775

Tour languages

Quick Links:

Popular trips

Annapurna Panorama - 13 days

Jewels of Greece Express - 5 Days

Wonders of Ancient Greece - 7 Days

Golden Triangle & Kerala - 15 days

Totally Jordan - 8 Days

Highlights of Bhutan & Nepal - 15 Days

Sailing Split - 8 days

Christmas Land Of The Northern Lights - 5 days

Member savings.

Sign in  to see which companies give additional savings to Travelstride Members (it’s free)

• Group Tours
• River Cruises
• Custom Itineraries
• Central America & Caribbean
• South America
• Rivers & Seas
• Middle East & North Africa

How well do you know the world?

On the go tours reviews & ratings.

Marsha van den Berg

South African Mom & Daughter Exceptional First Tour

First time we (mom and daughter) have done a tour and first time with on the go tours. What a special trip we had doing the 13 day Casablanca to Essaouira Morocco to...

Tony Tanner

Recently did the Very Vietnam tour plus…

Recently did the Very Vietnam tour plus add-on to Mai Chau. Excellent trip giving a great introduction to Vietnam. Greta food and accommodation (even the Reunificati...

Robert Pranic

The Tour guide was a great communicator…

The Tour guide was a great communicator full of knowledge both historical and current. The tour guide was very friendly and easy to talk to and had a great sense of ...

LondonerInMorocco

Totally Morocco Nov 23 - Perfectly organised

I did the Totally Morocco tour in Nov 2023 and there isn’t a single thing I could fault! Our tour guide was Jamal who took extremely good care of us and went above a...

Absolutely wonderful to deal with. So easy, knowledgable and an absolute pleasure.

See all On The Go Tours reviews

Editoral Review of On The Go Tours

On the Go Tour is a British-based tour company that runs primarily guided tours around the world but will also help fashion independent travel itineraries. 

What Makes On the Go Tours Stand Out?

They have a large number of holiday styles, including a large number of options for independent travellers looking for tailor made trips. On the Go Tours is very accommodating and popular amongst solo and single travellers, with most of their escorted group tours requiring no single supplement.

Specialty tours, such as Tintin tours to Egypt, Jordan, and India, based on the adventures of the famous Belgian cartoon-book boy-journalist-explorer, are one of the main things that sets On the Go Tours apart.

Who Will Enjoy Travelling with On the Go Tours?

Those travellers who gravitate to busy, lively, itineraries, that also allow for spontaneity, and are budget conscious will love travelling on holidays with On the Go Tours. They are also very popular among those interested in festivals around the globe. These events are often large scale and can be difficult to navigate, find accommodation, and stay safe.

On the Go Tours provides a way to take the stress out of planning to attend a festival. And not just music, but Carnival at Rio; the vibrant Holi Festival in India; the Dragon Boat Festival in China; the Nadaam Festival in Mongolia; and the Boryeong Mud Festival in South Korea, along with many others. So if you are culturally curious and enjoy the idea of large crowds attending the same meaningful event, On the Go Tours would be a great place to start for these travel plans.

Travellers with On the Go Tours are mostly age 28 and up, and you can expect a wide range of ages and backgrounds among the group. These holidays are relatively active in nature - a lot of walking and time outdoors, On the Go does offer some family itineraries suitable for children. They also actively solicit single travelers, and don’t require a single supplement. Nationality wise, they attract mainly British, New Zealand, Australian, North American, and South African.

Top Destinations

On the Go Tours operate around the world, with a large majority of holidays offered in Asia, Africa, and Europe. Australia, and Central and South America are also popular.

On the Go Tours Travel Style

The On the Go Tours travel style is a combination of coach travel, 3 to 4 star accommodation, some camping, walking and cycling. These tours will keep you active, and in most cases you will carry your own luggage, so pack light, and if you are relatively physically fit you will enjoy the days far more.

They have 5 “Holiday ranges” to help you determine the tour type that is going to be best suited to you.

1. Signature - The On the Go Tours Signature Collection is a group of higher end offerings. Accommodations will be in 4-5 star hotels, and groups are kept smaller, with a maximum of 24 people. Destinations are primarily focused in Asia, with a few departures in Europe including Iceland, Russia, and Italy. Peru is also available.

2. Budget - Budget tours are a key component of On the Go Tours. These trips are for active backpackpackers interested in meeting similar travelers in a larger group (max 32). You will be carrying your own luggage, and using a variety of transportation including overland vehicles, public buses and trains. Accommodation is in tented camps and 2-3 star hotels. Most meals are up to you and not included in the itinerary or base price.

3. Handpicked - These trips visit classic and iconic sights, utilizing locally run tours (where you might join up with other tour takers, not exclusively your own tour companions). Partners on the ground help On the Go craft a unique vision for your itinerary. Groups are small, around 28 people max.

4. Active - Active holidays with On the Go tours are intended for those travellers interested in being outdoors and have an adventurous frame of mind. Whether you’re traveling by bike, or on foot trekking or hiking. Travellers who are physically fit and used to stretching their limits will find the most enjoyment on an Active trip with On the Go Tours. Active holidays are offered in Asia and the Middle East primarily, with outings also available in Croatia, Turkey, and Africa.

5. Independent - For those travellers who aren’t as excited about a group tour and like the idea of being on their own but with a professionally planned itinerary, On the Go Tours has you covered! These bespoke tours allow you to have input over what you see, and the pace of your journey. Expect to pay a little bit more for this experience (bespoke tours with On the Go can be considered akin to their Signature Collection), but having the expertise behind your itinerary is all worth it.

Why Choose an Escorted Tour with On the Go Tours?

On the Go is a perfect starting place for active travellers who maybe don’t know quite yet the kind of journey they’re looking for and want a lot of choice. Prices are kept in the low to mid budget range, and on most tours you can expect a lot of inclusions - this does means there is quite a bit less free time available during the itinerary to explore on your own, so if this matters a lot to you, On the Go may not be the best fit.

From tours that specialise in festivals and events (both obscure and popular, musical and cultural), to bespoke holidays designed for you personally, to extended overland journeys, On the Go Tours has tons of holiday types to choose from.

Destinations cover a wide range of popular, classic, and off the beaten path locations from less traveled areas of Eastern Europe to the Middle East and Africa. The age range is diverse, and solo travelers are very welcome and actively encouraged to join On the Go Tours. This is a great tour company for meeting new people who have like-minded approaches to travel.

Unlock Community Benefits

Travel better together.

• Save favorite trips and itineraries
• Get insider insights
• Receive personalized recommendations
• ... and much more

More Details

Solo friendly.

• No single supplement
• Solo & Singles Travel

Travelstride featured in

About the company.

Escaping a cold London winter back in 1998, we followed the sun for a colourful adventure around the world. Discovering amazing history, interesting cultures and the jaw-dropping beauty of our planet, the friends we made along the way made our journey all the more special. Inspired to share our experiences, the seeds were sown and On The Go Tours was born.

Over the years we’ve grown into a small yet global company, with a purposeful local ethos. True to our own travels, authenticity is core to our holidays. We’d love you to experience a country the way it really is, with people who live there and know it inside out. We know this makes the difference between a great holiday and a truly memorable one. Our carefully sought out English-speaking local guides are passionate about sharing their country with you and we believe that they are amongst the best in the business.

We know too that adventure feels better with a chilled beer poolside or a soft pillow at the end of each day and we search out comfortable hotels and boutique properties for your stay. As we love to say - travel with us and adventure in style!

Unbeatable value: Combining authentic local experiences with an excellent range of 3-5 star hotels & boutique properties, our tours represent unbeatable value. Add in airport transfers, passionate tour guides and all transportation and you do get the best of adventure travel and creature comforts too.

Great group size: With an average of 15 and a maximum of 24, our group size really works well on tour, so you’re bound to meet like-minded travellers and make lasting friendships. Our festival tours do have larger group sizes due to their ‘one-off’ nature.

100% Guaranteed: Not only are all our group tour departures 100% guaranteed, we are also fully financially bonded, so you can book our tours with absolute confidence. We’re proud to say that we recently won 2 prestigious British Travel Awards and were runner up for another 3, testament to the quality of our holidays.

On The Go Tours Trips & Specials

On the Go Tours Special Deals

Want a tailor-made trip instead?

Your trip, your way, planned by an expert:.

• You choose budget, destinations, activities, transport & lodging type
• Expert designs the itinerary for you, and once approved, takes care of logistics

Top On The Go Tours Trip Categories

On the go tours company ranking by category, similar companies.

• Best British 2013 of Two Awards: 
• Gold for Best Medium Holiday Company to Southern Asia (Indian Subcontinent)
• Gold for Best Medium Holiday Company to East & Central Asia (China & South Korea)
• Best British 2014 of Two Awards: 
• Silver for Best Medium Holiday Company to North Africa (Egypt and Morocco);  
• Bronze for Best Medium Holiday Company to East & Central Asia (China and South Korea)
• Best British 2015 of Two Awards: 
• Silver for Best Small Holiday Company for North Africa (Egypt & Morocco);  
• Bronze for Best Small Holiday Company East & Central Asia (China and South Korea)
• Best British 2016 of Six Awards: 
• Gold for Best Holiday Company to Southern Asia (India, Nepal, Sri Lanka); 
• Gold for Best Holiday Company to East & Central Asia (China, Japan & South Korea); 
• Gold for Best Holiday Company to North Africa (Egypt & Morocco); 
• Silver for Best Holiday Company to Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand & Laos); 
• Silver for Best Escorted Adventure Holiday Company; Bronze for Best Escorted Tours Holiday Company
• Best British 2017 of Nine Awards: 
• Best Escorted Adventure Holiday Company
• Best Escorted Tours Holiday Company
• Best Holiday Company to Africa (Egypt, Morocco & Africa)
• Best Holiday Company to Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia & Thailand)
• Best Holiday Company to Southern Asia (India & Nepal)
• Best Holiday Company to the Middle East (Jordan)
• Best Holiday Company to East & Central Asia (China & Japan)
• Best Holiday Company to Central & South America (Peru)
• Best Holiday Company to East & Southeast Europe (Croatia, Turkey & Russia)
• Best British 2018 of Nine Awards:
• Best Holiday Company to Africa ( Egypt ,  Morocco  &  Africa )
• Best Holiday Company to Southeast Asia ( Vietnam ,  Cambodia  &  Thailand )
• Best Holiday Company to the Middle East ( Jordan )
• Best Holiday Company to East & Central Asia ( China  &  Japan )
• Best Holiday Company to East & Southeast Europe ( Croatia ,  Turkey  &  Russia )

About Travelstride

Find your perfect trip, travel confidently.

Turkey Discovered - 14 Days

• Best price guaranteed
• No booking fees
• COVID-19 protected
• City sightseeing
• Museum and gallery visits
• Natural landmarks sightseeing
• Cultural, religious and historic sites
• Young Adults
• Customizable
• duration 14 days
• tour type Group Request as private
• age requirement 18-80 yrs
• max group size 28
• guiding method Fully guided
• Tour Code BM-16098

• Starts Istanbul, Turkey
• Ends Istanbul, Turkey
• Cappadocia - Marvel at the spectacular landscape, explore prehistoric villages, underground churches and fascinating fortresses carved into rock.
• Istanbul - Discover cosmopolitan Istanbul, taking in the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Hippodrome, and more
• Konya - Travel the Silk Road and visit the Mevlana Whirling Dervish Monastery
• Gallipoli Peninsula - Pay your respects at some of the memorials, trenches, and battlefields of WW1
• Troy – Discover the legendary ruins and see a replica of the famous wooden horse
• Pamukkale - Marvel at the white cotton castles, walk along the terraces and opt to take a dip in the steamy thermal pools
• Ephesus - Marvel at the Library of Celsus in Roman Ephesus and explore the Ancient Greek city of Pergamum
• Fethiye - Relax in this picturesque port city on the Turquoise Coast and swim in the beautiful Blue Lagoon
• Day: 1 Istanbul
• Day: 2 Istanbul
• Day: 3 Canakkale
• Day: 4 Kusadasi
• Day: 5 Ephesus
• Day: 6 Pamukkale
• Day: 7 Fethiye
• Day: 8 Oludeniz
• Day: 9 Antalya
• Day: 10 Konya
• Day: 11 Captivating Cappadocia
• Day: 12 Safranbolu
• Day: 13 Safranbolu
• Day: 14 Istanbul
• 12 nights 4-5 star hotels and 1 night in an Ottoman Mansion home
• Breakfast daily and 8 dinners
• Airport arrival transfer on day 1 of tour and departure transfer (to Istanbul International Airport) at 9am and 1pm only on day 14
• All relevant transfers and transportation in private, modern air-conditioned vehicles
• Guided sightseeing - Istanbul, Gallipoli, Troy, Ruins of Ephesus, Pergamum, Sirince, Pamukkale, Hierapolis, Koycegiz, Kayakoy, Antalya, Konya, Cappadocia and Safranbolu
• Escorted by an English speaking, degree qualified Turkish tour guides
• Koycegiz Lake cruise and mud bath experience
• Ferry crossing of the Dardanelles
• International flights and visa
• Tip for your tour guide and driver. We recommend you allow EUR €5 - 7 per day, per traveller as a tip for your guide and EUR €2 per day for your driver. Tipping your guide and driver is an entirely personal gesture
• Entrance Fees: EUR€240-260pp, paid in EUR
• Nicholas Hagan
• From South Africa
• On Feb 23 2019
• Personal Itinerary can be tweaked and customized.
• Protected Travel within your own bubble.
• Professional Access our Travel Specialists' insider knowledge.
• Privacy Enjoy a tour focused solely on you or your travel group.
• Earn US$ 73+ in travel credits.
• Best price guaranteed.
• No credit card or booking fees.
• 100% financial protection.
• Carbon neutral tours.
• 25,000+ trip reviews, with an average rating of 4.8 out of 5.
• Read more reasons to book with Bookmundi less Read less

No additional cancellation fees apply for this Turkey Discovered - 14 Days tour. You can cancel the tour up to 63 days prior departure and avoid paying the full amount, but your deposit paid is non-refundable. No refund applies for cancellations within 62 days of departure.

For any tour departures within 09 June 2024, full payment is required. For tours that depart later than 09 June 2024, a deposit of 400 USD is required to confirm the tour, and the remaining balance will be charged 62 days before trip departure.

Turkey Discovered - 14 Days tour requires that you have adequate and valid travel insurance covering medical and personal accidents, including repatriation costs and emergency evacuation. World Nomads offers travel insurance for independent travelers and intrepid families.

For this Turkey Discovered - 14 Days tour getting the required visa(s) is the responsibility for each individual traveller, as visa requirements vary depending on your nationality. We recommend to check with your local embassies representing the countries that you are traveling to, as part of this itinerary.

A twin share room may not always be available for solo travelers as it depends on the final number of people on the tour. If you have picked twin share room while booking, and that option is not available, we will get back to you after booking. A single room might then be available against an additional fee.

Children under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult.

This trip incorporates the following COVID-19 measures:

• This tour has received the World Travel and Tourism Council’s ‘Safe Travels’ stamp, which provides travellers with assurance that COVID-19 health and hygiene protocols have been adhered to.
• Wearing a mask, hand washing and sanitizing has been implemented on this trip. Frequently touched surfaces are regularly disinfected. Hygiene safety measures and distancing will be ensured in our accommodations and during transport.
• Solo travelers are required to purchase a single room for your personal use.
• All travellers 18 years and older will be required to be fully vaccinated atleast 14 days before the departure date.

• Turkey Unplugged - 10 Days
• Sailing Split - 8 days
• Best of Greece - 10 Days
• Magic of the Fjords - 7 days
• Land of the Northern Lights - 5 days
• Classic Cambodia - 6 days
• Aurora & Glass Igloo Explorer - 5 Days
• Turkey tour packages
• Turkey group tours
• Europe tour packages
• Greece tour packages
• Egypt tour packages
• Italy tour packages
• Kyrgyzstan tour packages
• Spring 2024/2025
• Summer 2024/2025
• Winter 2024/2025
• August 2024
• September 2024
• October 2024
• November 2024
• December 2024
• January 2025
• February 2025
• Europe Tours
• Everest Base Camp Trek
• Italy Tours
• Spain Tours
• Argentina Tours
• Canada Tours
• Sri Lanka Tours
• Chile Tours
• Antarctica Tours

If you book the Turkey Discovered - 14 Days tour within the next 5 days , you can get by applying the following code:

Sign-in to unlock instant trip discounts. Create wish lists and save up to USD 1,500.

All Tours Operated By On The Go Tours

Discover the best On The Go Tours adventures in one convenient place. TourRadar offers 695 On The Go Tours tours. You can find the perfect trip spanning across 1 day to 58 day itineraries with prices starting from just EUR 57 per day!

250+ On The Go Tours trips

• In-depth Cultural

Totally Morocco - 9 days

Houcine wad our tour guide. What a man He was so good, made sure everyone was safe an got what they needed to enjoy the tour. Our driver was Sulieman, another great individual. The tour was excellent. Not to fast paced, but constant. Everyone enjoyed the trip soo .Uchida. only 10 of us on the trip, just the right amount. Camel tide was good. Thoroughly recomend.

• Coach / Bus
• Christmas & New Year

King Ramses - 13 days

What an experience! One I will truly treasure and never forget. I was a bit worried about what Egypt would be like but it was better than I expected. On the go and Mo Mo organize everything, so you don’t have to worry about accommodation or missing out on any of the sites. We saw so many sites from ancient times that were mind blowing. All the accommodation we stayed at were 4-5 star hotels. We did do the sleeper train which was an experience, but really not bad. The Nile Cruise was beautiful and very relaxing. Abu Simbel and the pyramids was definitely a highlight of mine. We also were taken to local stores where we could buy jewelry, perfume and alabaster. The Red Sea was spectacular, a perfect way to end the tour by the beach. The resort that we stayed at was so nice. MoMo was full of knowledge about all the sites we visited and explained things well. Egypt is full of beautiful and happy people and some of the most beautiful sites! I’m so happy I booked this tour.

Classic Cambodia - 6 days

Beautiful country Wonderfully organised Professional guides Thank you on the go and tour radar

• Sightseeing

Totally Jordan - 8 Days

We had the best week exploring Jordan. The itinerary, sights, group and guide were first class. Our guide Hameed was absolutely brilliant. Very knowledgable, funny and organised. He definitely made the whole week run a lot smoother than other tours we came across. He helped us gel as a group too which really made the week more enjoyable. The itinerary was perfect for us, we saw so much of the country in a short time and the longer days ensured the trip didn’t feel like it was going too fast. Petra, Wadi rum and Wadi mujib were our highlights. Such incredible experiences we’ll never forget. The Jordanian people are the most friendly and welcoming we’ve ever come across, from the brilliant hotels we stayed at to just passing people in the street. We were also really lucky with our fellow travellers as we all got on so well. The night at the desert camp we stayed up star gazing then eating marshmallows around the fire until late. All the other groups went to bed straight after dinner so maybe weren’t as lucky with their groups! Everything went very smoothly overall, our only issues were with the rude guy who met us on arrival at the airport. It definitely needs to be made clearer about the visa - this is included in your tour but we got a Jordan pass to save money on entry to sights and this also comes with a visa. The information wasn’t clear as to where to meet the tour rep which is what caused the issues. We also felt the itinerary should have been better described in terms of difficulty level. As 29/32 year olds who do a lot outdoors we had no problem but there was a 70yr old on the tour who couldn’t take part in some things. I felt it most difficult on the guide as he’s trying to cater for a big variation in ability while pleasing everyone but also sticking to the itinerary. It would just make more sense to explain this more before people book. For example Wadi mujib was a great experience but it’s hard going swimming through fast current and climbing ropes, there isn’t much info about this online so a video showing you the experience would have helped. Also a little update to things to pack as a waterproof phone case is super handy. But overall we had an incredible time and would definitely look at more on the go tours in the future.

Road to Casablanca - 9 Days

We loved our tour: gives a complete perspective of Morroco both culturally and geographically. Jamal is effective, and knows what people want to see and experience.

Italian Expresso - 5 days

Wow, we saw all the highlights, group was so much fun and the included meals were delicious. A bit of walking but that was perfect after big pasta lunches with Tiramisu to finish! Patricia [our tour guide] was amazing - she kept the group moving but with great history narrative and a fabulous sense of humor and Franco our driver was an absolute professional. I would happily go back and do a longer tour with On the Go in Italy.

Very Vietnam - 10 days

This was my first tour and I wasn't sure what to expect. I think that our tour guide Kien made the trip amazing. He was clear and concise, entertaining, and provided lots of useful information. I enjoyed his talks about Vietnam history, culture, and people. He was always so helpful. I felt like he was taking very good care of us throughout the entire trip. I can't say enough about Kien! As for the itinerary, there were two days of travel that I found tiring. One was the overnight train sleeper train ride to Hue. It's not easy for me to sleep on a train with three other people in the same berth. Still, I am glad I tried it as now I can say that I've done it. Plus, the people in my cabin were lovely and nice. There was one day when we had to wake up at 330 am to catch a plane to Ho Chi Minh City. The trip notes referred to this as "an early morning flight to Ho Chi Minh City." I guess it didn't sink in just how tiring that day would be. After the flight, we took a three hour bus ride to the Mekong Delta. If you add up the time spent waiting in the airport and the time sitting on the plane, I think we must have sat for at least 8 hours that day. I am normally a very active person and one thing I found difficult about this tour was getting enough exercise. I felt like we sat a lot of the time, e.g. on a tour bus, at the restaurants, on boats, on a plane, on the train, etc. Having said all this, I don't know how I could have seen all the things that I was able to see in 10 days. I really felt like I saw Vietnam on this trip. And I also felt that the tour was well organized, all except for the first and last hotel. We weren't told which hotel we would stay at in Ho Chi Minh so I could not book my hotel for the next day (we stayed an extra day) with knowledge of where we would be moving from. I also did not know the first hotel until much closer to the tour date. By then, I had already booked a hotel in Hanoi in the centre of town. TOURRADAR will book additional nights stays before and after the tour in the tour hotel but I found the cost to be much higher than what I was able to find on BOOKING.COM. All in all, I give this tour a five star rating because I don't think much can be improved given the itinerary. One additional comment - it was an unexpected joy to get a pair of pants tailored in Hoi An. I wish I had scoured magazines for pictures of clothes that I like in advance to have them ready when I arrived. I chose to get pants tailored only at the last minute and was pleased with the results. So inexpensive and the pants fit perfectly! It's best to order the clothes on the first day to have time to make adjustments if adjustments are needed.

Journey to Angkor Wat - 15 days

We covered the highlights very well. The killing fields and prison were very moving. Siem Riep was excellent, but the dawn viewing of Angkor Wat wasn't worth the trip. Viewing from the west put the towers in silhouette for us. Better to view from the east so the dawn light illuminates the towers.

Cairo to Luxor Explorer - 6 days

Momo has to be congratulated for his incredible energy, reliability and flexibility. His knowledge of the country’s history was mesmerizing and keeping it real he entertained us with stories. We loved the hotels and every rich experience we had on the trip. Thank you!

Colombo, Caves & Kandy - 8 days

Great way to see Sri Lanka

• River Cruise

King Ramses with Cruise - 13 days

Life changing experience! Egypt has always been at the top of my list to travel too but every time I went to travel there were warnings etc. I can honestly say that I have never felt more safe and looked after then I did with on the go. But most importantly I don’t believe that it would have been as amazing without our guide Momo. His passion for his country and its history flows through in every story and every place visited. His knowledge mixed in with his quick wit and humour meant that he catered so easily to the varying ages on our tour (26-83year olds). He was always on point, making sure we were always safe and not getting swindled by people in the marketplace/shops selling items for well above what they were worth or not authentic items. (It’s not their fault they are just trying to make a living) Some of the biggest highlights were outside of the “planned itinerary”, Momo’s local knowledge and relationships meant that we were able to eat at superb establishments that we would not have found on our own and also visit places in our free time that would not have been possible without his assistance and in his own free time. During our tour we experienced unusually hot weather for the time of year so at times within our group there was a bit of friction due to heat fatigue, Momo excelled at diffusing tension and had a way of reminding us that although it was bloody hot, it was worth every second in the heat to see the highlights he’s chosen for us. He was always very wary to point out things like bathrooms and places to purchase cold drinks and telling us how long or far until we see another place to do so. His attention to detail and care for all of the people on the tour was above and beyond what should have been expected of him. This tour was great... but without Momo it would not have been AMAZING! Hands down best guided tour I have ever experienced, Momo is truly a credit to his country, egyotologists and an asset to on the go tours. I could not thank him enough for making our tour so special. Ps he is also an accomplished paparazzi/ impromptu photographer for all those pictures to make people at home jealous.

King Tutankhamun with Cruise - 10 days

the guide was excellent!!! Momo was so knowledgeable about Egypt and her history. I learned so much from him. He was very up front about expectations of the trip and times for everything we did. This tour was everything I expected and so much more. A very safe place to travel to as well. anyone connected with the tour company were both professional and friendly and accommodating . I plan to go back and explore more of the country in the future as didn't realize or see all that I could.

Hanoi to Hoi An - 8 days

We booked this tour through On The Go Tours. They were very efficient and correspondence on line was very helpful and queries were any very quickly. This was an excellent tour from start to finish. Hung our tour guide was really friendly spoke good English and was very knowledgeable. Hung went out of his way to make sure everyone on the tour was able to join in regardless of their ability. The trips we did were stunning, well organised and the hotels were all perfectly situated, clean and comfortable. Everyone in Vietnam made us so welcome. They are so warm, friendly and hospitable, we were very sad to leave and can’t wait to return.

Passage to Petra - 6 days

Excellent accommodation, fantastic guide and amazing locations. Only down side was long journeys but coach was comfortable and stops were plenty. Definitely recommend

Turkey Discovered - 14 Days

Hotels were great but food was only average. It was a bit tiring to be on the bus for 11 hours a few days. It is surprising to find out that tips and entrance fees are not included. This increased the price by several hundred.

Reviews of On The Go Tours Tours

It was a mind blowing and yet spiritual trip…I loved it!

The King Rameses Tour was excellent. The itinerary was well thought out, we had a great group of fellow travellers and most important, our guide Dino was superb - really knowledgeable about every aspect of Egypt's ancient history and the sites we were seeing, an excellent communicator and the perfect host. I would highly recommend this tour for anyone who wants to get the most out of a couple of weeks in Egypt.

I really enjoyed this tour. We were a small group so it was easy to get to know people. The tour is very full on with a varied itinerary. The guides were friendly & helpful. The hotels were of a good standard & location, except the hotel in Siem Reap which was too far out from the centre.

• Europe (252)
• Africa (180)
• Latin America (44)
• Australia/Oceania (19)
• Morocco (36)
• Turkey (33)
• Croatia (31)
• Ireland (20)
• Vietnam (19)
• Iceland (19)
• Sri Lanka (16)
• Thailand (16)
• Jordan (16)
• England (14)
• Greece (13)

International Versions

• Deutsch: Alle Rundreisen von On The Go Tours
• Français: Tous les circuits organisés par On The Go Tours
• Español: Todos los circuitos operados por On The Go Tours
• Nederlands: Alle On The Go Tours Rondreizen

Biden to host Turkey's Erdogan at White House on May 9

• Erdogan makes first bilateral visit to Washington since 2019
• Erdogan, Biden expected to discuss Russia sanctions compliance, Syria
• Visit comes amid "window of opportunity" in ties
• NATO allies at odds over several issues but working to improve ties

The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here.

Additional reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever; Editing by Jonathan Spicer, Gareth Jones and Angus MacSwan

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. , opens new tab

Thomson Reuters

Humeyra Pamuk is a senior foreign policy correspondent based in Washington DC. She covers the U.S. State Department, regularly traveling with U.S. Secretary of State. During her 20 years with Reuters, she has had postings in London, Dubai, Cairo and Turkey, covering everything from the Arab Spring and Syria's civil war to numerous Turkish elections and the Kurdish insurgency in the southeast. In 2017, she won the Knight-Bagehot fellowship program at Columbia University’s School of Journalism. She holds a BA in International Relations and an MA on European Union studies.

Israel posted a budget deficit of 15 billion shekels ($4 billion) in March, the Finance Ministry said on Monday, citing higher spending as a result of Israel's war with Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

Hamas says Gaza truce talks still deadlocked despite reports of progress

A Hamas official said on Monday no progress was made at a new round of Gaza ceasefire talks in Cairo also attended by Israeli, Qatar and U.S. representatives, after the Egyptian hosts said headway had been achieved on the agenda.

• Share full article

For more audio journalism and storytelling, download New York Times Audio , a new iOS app available for news subscribers.

Israel’s Deadly Airstrike on the World Central Kitchen

The story behind the pioneering aid group and how it mistakenly came under attack..

From “The New York Times,” I’m Michael Barbaro. This is “The Daily.”

The Israeli airstrike that killed seven aid workers delivering food in Gaza has touched off outrage and condemnations from across the world. Today, Kim Severson on the pioneering relief crew at the center of the story, and Adam Rasgon on what we’re learning about the deadly attack on the group’s workers. It’s Thursday, April 4.

Kim, can you tell us about the World Central Kitchen?

World Central Kitchen started as a little idea in Chef José Andrés’ head. He was in Haiti with some other folks, trying to do earthquake relief in 2010. And his idea at that point was to teach Haitians to cook and to use solar stoves and ways for people to feed themselves, because the infrastructure was gone.

And he was cooking with some Haitians in one of the camps, and they were showing him how to cook beans the Haitian way. You sort of smash them and make them a little creamy. And it occurred to him that there was something so comforting for those folks to eat food that was from their culture that tasted good to them. You know, if you’re having a really hard time, what makes you feel good is comfort food, right? And warm comfort food.

So that moment in the camp really was the seed of this idea. It planted this notion in José Andrés’ mind, and that notion eventually became World Central Kitchen.

And for those who don’t know, Kim, who exactly is Chef José Andrés?

José Andrés is a Spanish chef who cooked under some of the Spanish molecular gastronomy greats, came to America, really made his bones in Washington, DC, with some avant-garde food, but also started to expand and cook tapas, cook Mexican food. He’s got about 40 restaurants now.

Yeah. And he’s got a great Spanish restaurant in New York. He’s got restaurants in DC, restaurants in Miami.

Come with me to the kitchen. Don’t be shy.

He’s also become a big TV personality.

Chef, are you going to put the lobster in the pot with the potatoes?

We’re going to leave the potatoes in.

Leave the potatoes in!

He’s one of the most charismatic people I’ve ever been around in the food world.

He’s very much the touchstone of what people want their celebrity chefs to be.

So how does he go from being all those things you just described, to being on the ground, making local comfort food for Haitians? And how does this all go from an idea that that would be a good idea, to this much bigger, full-fledged humanitarian organization?

So he started to realize that giving people food in disaster zones was a thing that was really powerful. He helped feed people after Hurricane Sandy, and he realized that he could get local chefs who all wanted to help and somehow harness that power. But the idea really became set when he went to Houston in 2017 to help after Hurricane Harvey.

And that’s when he saw that getting local chefs to tap into their resources, borrowing kitchens, using ingredients that chefs might have had on hand or are spoiling in the fridge because the power is out and all these restaurants needed something to do with all this food before it rotted — harnessing all that and putting it together and giving people well-cooked, delicious — at least as delicious as it can be in a disaster zone — that’s when World Central Kitchen as we know it today sort of emerged as a fully formed concept.

The first pictures now coming in from Puerto Rico after taking a direct hit — Hurricane Maria slamming into the island. And as you heard, one official saying the island is destroyed.

Shortly after that, he flew to Puerto Rico, where Hurricane Maria had pretty much left the entire island without water and in darkness.

He flew in on one of the first commercial jets that went back in. He got a couple of his chef buddies whose kitchens were closed, and they just decided to start cooking. They were basically just serving pots of stew, chicken stew, in front of the restaurants.

The lines got longer. And of course, chefs are a really specific kind of creature. They really like to help their community. They’re really about feeding people.

So all the people who were chefs or cooks on the ground in Puerto Rico who could wanted to help. And you had all these chefs in the States who wanted to fly down and help if they could, too. So you had this constant flow of chefs coming in and out. That’s when I went down and followed him around for about a week.

And what did you see?

Well, one of the most striking things was his ability to get food to remote places in ways the Salvation Army couldn’t and other government agencies that were on the ground couldn’t. You know, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, doesn’t deliver food. It contracts with people to deliver food.

So you have all these steps of bureaucracy you have to go through to get those contracts. And then, FEMA says you have to have a bottle of water and this and that in those boxes. There’s a lot of structure to be able to meet the rules and regulations of FEMA.

So José doesn’t really care about rules and regulations very much. So he just got his troops together and figured out where people needed food. He had this big paper map he’d carry around and lay out. And he had a Sharpie, and he’d circle villages where he’d heard people needed food or where a bridge was out.

And then he would dispatch people to get the food there. Now, how are you going to do that? He was staying in a hotel where some National Guard and military police were staying to go patrol areas to make sure they were safe. He would tuck his big aluminum pans of food into the back of those guys’ cars, and say, Could you stop and drop these off at this church?

During that time in Puerto Rico, he funded a lot of it off of his own credit cards or with cash. And then he’s on the phone with people like the president of Goya or his golf buddies who are well-connected, saying, hey, we need some money. Can you send some money for this? Can you send some money for that?

So he just developed this network, almost overnight. I mean, he is very much a general in the field. He wears this Orvis fishing vest, has cigars in one pocket, money in the other. And he just sets out to feed people.

And there were deliveries that were as simple as he and a couple of folks taking plastic bags with food and wading through a flooded parking lot to an apartment building where an older person had been stuck for a few days and couldn’t get out, to driving up to a community that had been cut off. There was a church that was trying to distribute food.

We drive through this little mountain road and get to this church. We start unloading the food, and the congregation is inside the church. José comes in, and the pastor thanks him so much. And the 20 people or so who are there gather around José, and they begin praying.

And he puts his head down. He’s a Catholic. He’s a man who prays. He puts his head down. He’s in the middle of these folks, and he starts to pray with them. And then, pulls out his map, circles another spot, and the group is off to the next place.

And when Russia invades Ukraine, he immediately decided it was time for World Central Kitchen to step into a war zone. You know, so many people needed to eat. So many Ukrainians were crossing the border into Poland.

There are refugees in several countries surrounding Ukraine. So a lot of the work that they did was feeding the refugees. They set up big operations around train stations, places where refugees were coming, and then they were able to get into cities.

One of their operations did get hit with some armaments early on. Nobody was hurt badly. But I think that was the first time that they realized this was an actually more dangerous situation than perhaps going in after there’s been an earthquake.

But the other thing that really made a difference here is, José Andrés and World Central Kitchen would broadcast on social media, live from the kitchens. In the beginning, he’d be holding up his phone and saying, we put out 3 million meals for the people of Puerto Rico, chefs for Puerto Rico. It was very infectious.

And now, one of the standard operating procedures for people who are in the World Central Kitchens is to hold up the phone like that — you can see the kitchen, busy in the back — and talk about how many meals they’ve served. They have these kind of wild meal counts, which one presumes are pretty accurate. But they’re like, we served 320,000 meals this morning to the people of Lviv.

I mean, that scale seems important to note. This is not the kind of work that feeds a few people and a few towns. When you’re talking about 300,000 meals in a morning, you’re talking about something that begins, it would seem, to rival the scope and the reach of the groups that we tend to think of as the most important in the disaster-relief world.

Absolutely. And the meals — there are lots and lots and lots of meals. But also, World Central Kitchen hires local cooks. They’ll hire food truck operators, who obviously have no work, and pay them to go out and deliver the meals. They’ll pay local cooks to come in and cook. That’s what they do with a lot of their donations, which is very different than other aid organizations. And this then helps the local economy. He’s trying to buy as much local food as he can. That keeps the economy going in the time of a disaster. So that’s a piece of his operation that is a little different than traditional aid operations.

So walk us up to October 7, when Hamas attacked Israel. What does Chef José Andrés and the World Kitchen do?

Well, he had had such impact in Ukraine. And I think the organization itself thought that they had the infrastructure to now take food into another war zone. Gaza, of course, was nothing like Ukraine. But World Central Kitchen shows up. They’re nimble. They start to connect with local chefs.

Right now, they have about 60 kitchens in the areas around Gaza, and they’ve hired about 400 Palestinians to help do that. But getting the food into Gaza became the difficulty.

How do you actually get the food into the Gaza Strip? Large amounts of food that require trucks? You’ve got to realize, getting food into Gaza right now requires going through Israeli checkpoints.

And that slows the operation down. You might get eight trucks a day in, and that is such a small amount of food. And this has been incredibly difficult for any aid operations.

So World Central Kitchen, playing on the experience that they had in a war zone and working with government entities and trying to coordinate permissions — they took that experience from Ukraine and were trying to apply it in the Gaza Strip. Now, they had worked for a long time with Israeli officials. They wanted to make sure that they could get their food in.

And they decided that the best way to do it would be to take food off of ships, get it in a warehouse, and then get that food into Gaza. It took a long time to pull those permissions through, but they were able to get the permissions they needed and set this system up, so they could move the food fairly quickly into North Gaza.

And once they get those permissions, how big a player do they become in Gaza?

World Central Kitchen became a kind of a fulcrum point for getting food aid in to Gaza in a way that a larger and more established humanitarian aid operations couldn’t, in part because they were small and nimble in their way. So the amount of food they were moving maybe wasn’t as large as some of the more established humanitarian aid organizations, but they had so much goodwill. They had so much logistical knowledge.

They were working with local Palestinians who knew the food systems and who understood how to get things in and out. So they were able to find a way to use a humanitarian corridor to have permissions from the Israeli government, to be able to move this food back and forth. And that’s always been the secret to World Central Kitchen — is incredibly nimble. So —

Just like in Puerto Rico, they seemed to win over just about everybody and do the seemingly impossible.

Right. And World Central Kitchen says they delivered 43 million meals to Gazans since the start of the war. And I don’t think there was any other group that could have pulled this off.

Hey, this is Zomi and Chef Olivier. We’re at the Deir al-Balah kitchen. And we’ve got the mise en place. Tell us a little bit about it, Chef.

And then, this caravan, this fairly efficient caravan of armored vehicles, labeled with World Central Kitchen logo on the roof, on the sides — the idea was they head on — this humanitarian quarter, they head on this road. The seven people who went all in vests — three of whom are security people from Great Britain — you have another World Central Kitchen employee who has handled operations in Asia, in Central America. She’s quite a veteran of the World Central Kitchen operation.

And you have a young man who someone told me was like the Michael Jordan of humanitarian aid, who hooked up with World Central Kitchen in Poland. He was a hospitality student and had just become an indispensable make-it-happen guy. And you have a Palestinian guy who’s 25, a driver.

So this is the team. They have all the clearances. They have the well-marked vehicles. It seemed like a very simple, surgical kind of operation. And of course, now, as we know, it was anything but that.

After the break, my colleague Adam Rasgon on what happened to the World Central Kitchen workers in that caravan. We’ll be right back.

So Adam, what ends up happening to this convoy that our colleague Kim Severson just described from World Central Kitchen?

So what we know is that members of the World Central Kitchen had been at a warehouse in Deir al-Balah in the Central Gaza Strip. They had just unloaded about 100 tons of food aid that had been brought via a maritime route to the coast of the Gaza Strip. When they departed the warehouse, they were in three cars.

Two of the cars were armored cars, and one was a soft-skinned car, according to the organization. When the cars reached the coastal road, known as Al Rashid Street, they started to make their way south.

And what do we know about how much the World Central Kitchen would have told the Israeli military about their plans to be on this road?

Yeah. So the World Central Kitchen said that its movements were coordinated. And in military speak or in technical speak, people often refer to this as deconfliction. So basically, this process is something that not only the World Central Kitchen but the UN, telecommunications companies going out to repair damaged telecommunications infrastructure, others would use, where they basically provide the Israeli military with information about the people who are traveling — their ID numbers, their names, the license plate numbers of the cars they’ll be traveling in.

They’ll sort of explain where their destination is. And the general process is that the Israelis will then come back to them and say, you’re approved to travel from this time, and you can take this specific route.

And do we know if that happened? If the IDF said, you’re approved, use this route on this night?

So we heard from the World Central Kitchen that they did receive this approval. And the military hasn’t come out and said that it wasn’t approved. So I think it’s fair to assume that their movements were coordinated and de-conflicted.

OK. So what happens as this seemingly pre-approved and coordinated convoy trip is making this leg of the journey?

They started to make their way south towards Rafah. And the three cars suddenly came under fire. The Israeli army unleashes powerful and devastating strikes on the three cars in the convoy, most likely from a drone. The strikes rip through the cars, killing everyone inside.

Shortly thereafter, ambulances from the Palestine Red Crescent are dispatched to the location. They retrieve the dead bodies.

They bring those bodies to a hospital. And at the hospital, the bodies are laid out, and journalists start to report to the world that indeed, five members of the World Central Kitchen staff have been killed. And the Palestine Red Crescent teams were continuing to search for other bodies and eventually brought back two more bodies to the hospital for a total of seven people killed in these airstrikes.

And when the sun comes up, what does it end up looking like — the scene of these struck trucks from this convoy?

So early in the morning when the sun comes up, a number of Palestinian journalists headed out to the coastal road and started taking pictures and videos. And I received a series of videos from one of the reporters that I was in touch with, essentially showing three cars, all heavily damaged. One had a World Central Kitchen logo on top of it, with a gaping hole in the middle of the roof.

A second car was completely charred. You could barely recognize the structure of the car. The inside of it had been completely charred, and the front smashed.

And do we know if the strike on this convoy was the only strike happening in this area? In other words, is it possible that this convoy was caught in some kind of a crossfire or in the middle of a firefight, or does it appear that this was quite narrow, and was the Israeli army targeting these specific vehicles, whether or not they realized who was in it?

We don’t have any other indication that there was another strike on that road around that time.

What that suggests, of course, is that this convoy was targeted. Now, whether Israeli officials knew who was in it, whether they were aid workers, seems like a yet-unresolved question. But it does feel very clear that the trucks in this convoy were deliberately struck.

Yes. I do think the trucks in this convoy were deliberately struck.

What is the reaction to these airstrikes on this convoy and to the death of these aid workers?

Well, one of the first reactions is from the World Central kitchen’s founder, José Andrés.

Chef José Andrés, who founded World Central Kitchen, calling them angels.

He said he was heartbroken and grieving.

And adding the Israeli government needs to stop this indiscriminate killing.

And then, he accused Israel of using food as a weapon.

What I know is that we were targeted deliberately, nonstop, until everybody was dead in this convoy.

And he just seemed devastated and quite angry.

And so what is the reaction from not just World Central Kitchen, but from the rest of the world to this airstrike?

There’s, frankly, fury and outrage.

The White House says it is outraged by an Israeli airstrike that killed seven aid workers in Gaza, including one American.

President Biden, who has been becoming increasingly critical of Israel’s approach to this war — he came out and said that he was outraged and heartbroken.

Certainly sharper in tone than we have heard in the past. He says Israel has not done enough to protect aid workers trying to deliver desperately needed help to civilians. Incidents like yesterday’s simply should not happen. Israel also has not —

And we’re seeing similar outrage from foreign governments. The British Foreign Secretary David Cameron —

The dreadful events of the last two days are a moment when we should mourn the loss of these brave humanitarian workers.

— said that the airstrikes were completely unacceptable. And he called on Israel to explain how this happened and to make changes to ensure that aid workers could be safe.

So amid all this, what does Israel have to say about the attack — about how it happened, about why it happened?

The response from Israel this time was much different, compared to other controversial airstrikes on the Gaza Strip. Often, when we’re reporting on these issues, we’ll hear from the army that they’re investigating a given incident. It will take days, if not weeks, to receive updates on where that investigation stands.

There are instances where Israel does take responsibility for harming civilians, but it’s often rare. This time, the Prime Minister —

[NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]

— Benjamin Netanyahu comes out with a video message —

— saying that Israel had unintentionally harmed innocent civilians. And that was the first indication or public indication that Israel was going to take responsibility for what had happened.

The IDF works together closely with the World Central Kitchen and greatly appreciates the important work that they do.

We later heard from the military’s chief of staff. Herzi Halevi issued a video statement in English.

I want to be very clear the strike was not carried out with the intention of harming aid workers. It was a mistake that followed a misidentification.

And he said this mistake had come after a misidentification. He said it was in the middle of a war, in a very complex condition. But —

This incident was a grave mistake. We are sorry for the unintentional harm to the members of WCK.

He was clear that this shouldn’t have happened.

I want to talk about that statement, because it seems to suggest — that word, “misidentification”— that the Israeli army believed that somebody else was in this convoy, that it wasn’t a bunch of aid workers.

That’s possible, although it’s extremely vague and cryptic language that genuinely is difficult to understand. And it’s a question that us in the Jerusalem Bureau have been asking ourselves.

I’m curious if the Israeli government has said anything in all of its statements so far about whether it noticed these markings on these three cars in the convoy. Because that, I think, for so many people, stands out as making misidentification hard to understand. It seems like perhaps a random pickup truck could be misidentified as perhaps a vehicle being used by a Hamas militant. But a group of World Central Kitchen trucks with their name all over it, driving down a known aid corridor — that becomes harder to understand as misidentification.

Yeah, it’s an important question. And at this moment, we don’t know exactly what the Israeli reconnaissance drones could see, and whether or not they were able to see, in the darkness of the night, the markings of the World Central Kitchen on the cars. But what is clear is that when the cars were found in the morning, right there was the big emblazoned logo of the World Central Kitchen.

Mm-hmm. I’m curious how you think about the speed with which Israel came out and said it was in the wrong here. Because as you said, that’s not how Israel typically reacts to many of these situations. And that makes me think that it might have something to do with the nature of the aid group that was the target of these airstrikes — the World Central Kitchen — and its story.

I think it does have to do with this particular group. This is a group that’s led by a celebrity chef, very high-profile, who is gone around the world to conflict zones, disaster areas, to provide food aid. And I also think it has to do with the people who were killed, most of who were Western foreign aid workers. Frankly, I don’t think we would be having this conversation if a group of Palestinian aid workers had been killed.

Nor, perhaps, would we be having the reaction that we have had so far from the Israeli government.

I would agree with that.

Adam, at the end of the day, what is going to be the fallout from all of this for the people of Gaza? How do we think that this attack on World Central Kitchen is going to impact how food, medicine, aid is distributed there?

So the World Central Kitchen has said that it’s suspending its operations across Gaza. Because it essentially seems that they don’t feel they can safely operate there right now. And several ships that carried aid for the organization, which were sort of just on the coast — those ships ended up turning back to Cyprus, carrying more than 200 tons of aid.

So aid that was supposed to reach the people of Gaza is now leaving Gaza because of this attack.

Yes. And it’s also had a chilling effect. Another aid group, named INARA, has also suspended its operations in Gaza. And it seems that there is concern among humanitarians that other aid groups could follow.

So in a place where people are already suffering from severe hunger, poor sanitation, the spread of dangerous disease, this is only going to make the humanitarian situation, which is already dire, even worse.

Well, Adam, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

Thanks so much for having me.

We’ll be right back.

Here’s what else you need to know today. The magnitude-7.4 earthquake that struck Taiwan on Wednesday has killed nine people, injured more than 1,000, and touched off several landslides. It was Taiwan’s strongest quake in the past 25 years. But in a blessing for the island’s biggest cities, its epicenter was off the island’s east coast, relatively far from population centers like Taipei.

And the first patient to receive a kidney transplant from a genetically modified pig has fared so well that he was discharged from a Massachusetts hospital on Wednesday just two weeks after surgery. Two previous transplants from genetically modified pigs both failed. Doctors say the success of the latest surgery represents a major moment in medicine that, if replicated, could usher in a new era of organ transplantation.

Today’s episode was produced by Lynsea Garrison, Olivia Natt, and Carlos Prieto, with help from Asthaa Chaturvedi. It was edited by Marc Georges, with help from Paige Cowett, contains original music by Marion Lozano and Dan Powell, and was engineered by Chris Wood. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly.

That’s it for “The Daily.” I’m Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.

• April 8, 2024   •   29:31 The Eclipse Chaser
• April 7, 2024 The Sunday Read: ‘What Deathbed Visions Teach Us About Living’
• April 5, 2024   •   29:11 An Engineering Experiment to Cool the Earth
• April 4, 2024   •   32:37 Israel’s Deadly Airstrike on the World Central Kitchen
• April 3, 2024   •   27:42 The Accidental Tax Cutter in Chief
• April 2, 2024   •   29:32 Kids Are Missing School at an Alarming Rate
• April 1, 2024   •   36:14 Ronna McDaniel, TV News and the Trump Problem
• March 29, 2024   •   48:42 Hamas Took Her, and Still Has Her Husband
• March 28, 2024   •   33:40 The Newest Tech Start-Up Billionaire? Donald Trump.
• March 27, 2024   •   28:06 Democrats’ Plan to Save the Republican House Speaker
• March 26, 2024   •   29:13 The United States vs. the iPhone
• March 25, 2024   •   25:59 A Terrorist Attack in Russia

Hosted by Michael Barbaro

Featuring Kim Severson and Adam Rasgon

Produced by Lynsea Garrison ,  Olivia Natt ,  Carlos Prieto and Asthaa Chaturvedi

Edited by Marc Georges and Paige Cowett

Original music by Dan Powell and Marion Lozano

Engineered by Chris Wood

Listen and follow The Daily Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music

The Israeli airstrike that killed seven workers delivering food in Gaza has touched off global outrage and condemnation.

Kim Severson, who covers food culture for The Times, discusses the World Central Kitchen, the aid group at the center of the story; and Adam Rasgon, who reports from Israel, explains what we know about the tragedy so far.

On today’s episode

Kim Severson , a food correspondent for The New York Times.

Adam Rasgon , an Israel correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading

The relief convoy was hit just after workers had delivered tons of food .

José Andrés, the Spanish chef who founded World Central Kitchen, and his corps of cooks have become leaders in disaster aid .

There are a lot of ways to listen to The Daily. Here’s how.

We aim to make transcripts available the next workday after an episode’s publication. You can find them at the top of the page.

The Daily is made by Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Sydney Harper, Mike Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Corey Schreppel, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky, John Ketchum, Nina Feldman, Will Reid, Carlos Prieto, Ben Calhoun, Susan Lee, Lexie Diao, Mary Wilson, Alex Stern, Dan Farrell, Sophia Lanman, Shannon Lin, Diane Wong, Devon Taylor, Alyssa Moxley, Summer Thomad, Olivia Natt, Daniel Ramirez and Brendan Klinkenberg.

Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. Special thanks to Sam Dolnick, Paula Szuchman, Lisa Tobin, Larissa Anderson, Julia Simon, Sofia Milan, Mahima Chablani, Elizabeth Davis-Moorer, Jeffrey Miranda, Renan Borelli, Maddy Masiello, Isabella Anderson and Nina Lassam.

Kim Severson is an Atlanta-based reporter who covers the nation’s food culture and contributes to NYT Cooking . More about Kim Severson

Adam Rasgon reports from Israel for The Times's Jerusalem bureau. More about Adam Rasgon

Advertisement