Chicago – April 03, 2024
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s armed forces had “unintentionally” struck a convoy from the humanitarian group World Central Kitchen in Gaza late Monday, killing seven aid workers.
“Unfortunately, in the last day there was a tragic case of our forces unintentionally hitting innocent people in the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu said Tuesday as he left a hospital in Jerusalem after a hernia operation. “It happens in war. We will investigate it right to the end. … We are in contact with the governments, and we will do everything so that this thing does not happen again.
Earlier, the Israel Defense Forces expressed “sincere sorrow” over the deaths while stopping short of accepting responsibility.
World Central Kitchen said it was pausing aid efforts in the Gaza Strip after seven of its workers were killed in what it said was an Israeli airstrike. The U.S.-based nonprofit group said its team was traveling in two armored cars bearing its logo and had coordinated its movements with the Israeli military.
World Central Kitchen is one of the few groups delivering much-needed food to the Palestinian enclave, where aid agencies have warned that half of the population is on the brink of famine. Cyprus said ships carrying some 240 tons of food were turning back after the incident.
In a statement tonight, Biden said he was “outraged and heartbroken” by the deaths of World Central Kitchen workers in Gaza, taking aim at Israel for not doing enough to protect civilians or aid workers.
The statement was one of his harshest criticisms of Israel since the war began.
“This is a major reason why distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza has been so difficult — because Israel has not done enough to protect aid workers trying to deliver desperately needed help to civilians,” Biden said. “Incidents like yesterday’s simply should not happen. Israel has also not done enough to protect civilians.
“The United States has repeatedly urged Israel to deconflict their military operations against Hamas with humanitarian operations in order to avoid civilian casualties,” he added.
Biden also said the White House would “continue to press Israel to do more to facilitate” humanitarian aid in Gaza.
