Israeli strikes on an aid convoy run by the charity World Central Kitchen killed seven of its workers in the Gaza Strip, sparking international outrage and highlighting the dangers for humanitarians trying to ease the looming famine.
The aid workers — a Palestinian, an Australian, a Pole, three Britons and a dual US-Canadian national — were traveling in two armored vehicles clearly marked with the World Central Kitchen logo and a third vehicle when they came under fire late on Monday night. according to the charity.
The convoy was hit despite having coordinated its movements with the Israeli army, the group said. Workers were leaving a warehouse in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, where the team had unloaded more than 100 tons of humanitarian food aid that had arrived by boat on Monday, World Central Kitchen reported.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who rarely comments on the deadly strikes in Gaza, released a videotaped statement on Tuesday in which he appeared to acknowledge that the Israeli military was responsible. Israel has launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the strikes.
“Unfortunately, in the last day there was a tragic case of our forces unintentionally hitting innocent people in the Gaza Strip,” Mr Netanyahu said. “It happens in war, we’re looking into it fully, we’re in touch with governments and we’re going to do everything we can to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
The Israeli military said the strikes were the result of “erroneous reconnaissance”.
“It was a mistake followed by a misrecognition, at night during the war in a very complicated situation,” Israel’s chief of military staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, he said in a video. “It shouldn’t have happened.”
World Central Kitchen, founded by celebrity chef José Andrés, said Tuesday it was suspending operations in the region.
“This is not just an attack on WCK, but an attack on humanitarian organizations that appear in the most dire situations where food is used as a weapon of war,” said Erin Gore, the group’s executive director. “This is unforgivable.”
Several nations, including the countries of origin of the people killed, expressed outrage and demanded an explanation.
President Biden said in a statement: “I am outraged and devastated by the deaths of seven aid workers at World Central Kitchen.” He added: “Israel has not done enough to protect aid workers trying to provide desperately needed aid to civilians. Incidents like yesterday simply should not happen. Israel has also not done enough to protect civilians.”
David Cameron, Britain’s foreign secretary, called the worker deaths “totally unacceptable” in a social media post, adding: “Israel must urgently explain how this happened and make significant changes to ensure the safety of workers in aid sector’.
Videos and photos verified by The New York Times suggest the convoy was hit multiple times. The images show three damaged white vehicles, with the northernmost and southernmost vehicles nearly a mile and a half apart.
