The subsequent day the 33-year-old twin U.S.-Canadian citizen was lifeless, one in all seven World Central Kitchen employees killed by Israeli airstrikes on the help group’s convoy.
“He was a great man,” his father mentioned. “He was doing what he liked and simply needed to serve and assist others.”
Jacob Flickinger was born and spent most of his childhood in Saint-Georges, a small metropolis in Quebec, the son of a Canadian mom and an American father.
Jacob spent almost a decade within the Canadian Armed Forces and did a tour of responsibility in Afghanistan, the place he served in Kandahar, his father mentioned.
After leaving the army in 2019, he met his companion, Sandy Leclerc, and so they had a child boy. The couple moved to Costa Rica, the place Flickinger started constructing a enterprise as a health coach.
To assist his household, he began on the lookout for different alternatives. His first stint with World Central Kitchen was final November, when he spent a month in Mexico within the aftermath of a serious hurricane.
When a good friend informed him in regards to the WCK mobilization in Gaza, he volunteered to assist distribute meals shipments arriving by sea. The work mixed the abilities he realized within the army and his want to assist, his father mentioned.
“Girls and youngsters are ravenous to dying, it’s all around the information day-after-day,” mentioned John Flickinger, 67. “He felt he may make a small distinction.”
Jacob’s dying seems to mark the primary time an American has been killed in Gaza by the Israel Protection Forces because the conflict started on Oct. 7 after the Hamas assault on Israel. Almost 33,000 individuals have been killed in Gaza, in line with the territory’s well being ministry. The Gaza Well being Ministry doesn’t differentiate between combatants and civilians, however says the vast majority of the lifeless are girls and youngsters.
Not less than 21 U.S. residents serving within the IDF have additionally been killed in Gaza.
John described his son as a loyal good friend, somebody who whilst a boy was inclined to guard the weak and stand as much as aggressors. To assist Jacob’s companion and 18-month-old son, John and a good friend of Jacob’s launched a fundraiser.
“I would like his story to be informed,” John mentioned by means of tears. In conflict, “the those who endure are the moms, the fathers, the sons, the daughters, the survivors of what’s madness.”
Amanda Coletta in Toronto contributed to this report.
