Family angry over Canadian aid worker’s death in Gaza, says he was ‘hunted down and killed’

John Flickinger and Sylvie Labrecque last spoke to their beloved son, Jacob, on Easter Sunday, when they told him how much they were looking forward to his return.

The very next day the 33-year-old died in Gaza while participating in a humanitarian aid mission.

“He was doing it in order to help others,” Labrecque said. “He was very caring and loving and devoted, and it’s just sad to see that he went that way.”

Flickinger was one of the seven aid workers killed on Monday in Gaza in a series of Israeli airstrikes while trying to deliver food.

American-based World Central Kitchen said it had co-ordinated its movements with the military, and the vehicles were clearly marked with the organization’s logo.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called their deaths inadvertent — something that “happens in war,” he said.

Flickinger’s parents aren’t convinced.

“They were chased down, hunted down and killed,” John Flickinger said. “So draw your own conclusions, but the facts and the evidence indicate that this was a targeted hit, meant to intimidate aid workers.”

Canada is also demanding more of an explanation. So are Poland, the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States.

“The world needs very clear answers as to how this happened,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday.

Born in St-Georges, Que., to an American father and a Canadian mother, Flickinger served for 11 years in the Canadian military, including a tour in Afghanistan.

Last fall, he decided to join the World Central Kitchen to help the non-profit on the security and logistics front.

His first aid mission was last November in Mexico, and in early March, he travelled to Gaza.

His partner, Sandy Leclerc, who lives at their home in Costa Rica with their 18-month-old