The Israeli military has called the deaths of seven international aid workers in the Gaza Strip in an airstrike “a serious mistake.” Outrage is growing worldwide as more and more aid organizations temporarily stop their work in the area.
The Israeli army has described the killing of seven aid workers from the US aid organization World Central Kitchen (WCK) in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip as a “serious mistake”.
“This incident was a serious mistake,” Israel’s Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi said in a video message published on the online service X. “The attack was not carried out with the intention of harming the WCK responders. It was a mistake that followed a misidentification at night, during a war under very complex conditions,” he continued. “That should not have happened.”
An independent panel will conduct a “thorough investigation” which should be completed in the coming days.
Seven aid workers killed in attack
According to the organization, seven helpers from Australia, Poland and Great Britain were killed in the attack on a WCK convoy on Monday. The victims also included a person with US-Canadian citizenship and a Palestinian.
The incident occurred as the convoy of three vehicles was leaving a warehouse in Deir al-Balah in the center of the Gaza Strip. Several countries, including Germany, were shocked and called for rapid clarification. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of a “tragic incident” in which the Israeli military “unintentionally” hit innocent people in the Gaza Strip.
Herzog apologizes to the founder of Aid organization
Israeli President Izchak Herzog had previously apologized to the founder of the aid organization World Central Kitchen. Herzog spoke to José Andrés on the phone and expressed his deep regret over the “tragic loss of the lives of the WCK employees,” the Israeli president wrote on the X platform (formerly Twitter). He also expressed a sincere apology and expressed his condolences to the families of those killed.
Israel will thoroughly investigate the tragedy, Herzog wrote. The president also thanked Andrés for his aid organization’s commitment to Israelis and Palestinians. “The President reiterated Israel’s commitment to providing and increasing humanitarian assistance to the population of Gaza,” Herzog’s statement continued.
The aid organization was founded by the Spanish-born celebrity chef Andrés in 2010 after the devastating earthquake in Haiti. Since then, the organization has been providing meals to people in disaster areas around the world. According to the Israeli army, WCK was also one of the first non-governmental organizations to help in Israel after the Hamas massacre on October 7 last year.
People inspect the site where the World Central Kitchen employees were killed. The airstrike hit one of the organization’s cars.
U.N: “The inevitable result of warfare
The United Nations made serious accusations against Israel. The incident was “an inevitable result of the way this war is currently being fought,” said UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric. He referred to UN figures according to which more than 180 humanitarian aid workers have been killed in the Gaza war so far.
Aid organization World Central Kitchen confirmed on Tuesday the deaths of six aid workers and a Palestinian driver in the airstrikes. Three vehicles were moving forward at great distances from each other and were hit in quick succession. At least one of the vehicles had the World Central Kitchen logo printed on the roof and could be seen from the air, the organization said.
The deaths of the World Central Kitchen employees demonstrate “a disregard for international humanitarian law and a disregard for the protection of humanitarian workers” that the law actually requires, Dujarric said. The UN coordinator for humanitarian assistance to those in need in the Gaza Strip, Sigrid Kaag, only met with the World Central Kitchen team in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip on Monday – just hours before the aid workers died. Kaag was “outraged” by the attack, Dujarric said.
When asked what message he had for Israel, he replied: “The message is, let humanitarian workers do their work. They must be able to do it safely.”
USA also “outraged”
The US government, Israel’s closest ally, also reacted with outrage to the deaths of the foreign aid workers and urgently demanded that Israel clarify the matter. National Security Council communications director John Kirby said the U.S. government was “outraged” when it learned of the Israeli military airstrike.
US President Joe Biden also sharply criticized Israel, accusing the country of not doing enough to protect such aid workers. “Incidents like yesterday simply shouldn’t happen,” Biden said. “Israel has also not done enough to protect civilians.”
The White House expects Israel to quickly conduct a more in-depth investigation after the preliminary review of the incident. “We hope that the results will be made public and that those responsible will be held accountable,” Kirby said. The US government has also made this position “very clear” towards Israel.
Other aid groups suspend operations in Gaza after the attack
Meanwhile, other aid organizations have suspended their activities in the Gaza Strip. The Anera group announced the “unprecedented step” of pausing its humanitarian operations. Anera is a partner organization of World Central Kitchen.
Project Hope, a US-founded group focused on medical aid, also said it was suspending its work in the Gaza Strip. The International Medical Corps, which operates one of the largest field hospitals with 140 beds in Rafah, also announced that it would “reconsider our procedures.” Plans to build another field hospital in Deir al-Balah, among other things, will now be put to the test. “It’s devastating,” said doctor Sawar Ali, who runs the military hospital in Rafah and is working on building the new field hospital, referring to the deadly airstrike. “It’s really an immense blow to morale.”
According to media reports, the death of the helpers from World Central Kitchen fundamentally calls into question the continued supply of people in the war zone. “Everyone feels threatened now,” the New York Times quoted Michael Capponi, founder of the aid organization Global Empowerment Mission, as saying. The international community of non-governmental organizations must be “guaranteed that we are safe in our work, which is so important.”
ships with Aid deliveries turn back
After the attack, the delivery of relief supplies by ship was temporarily stopped. The aid ships sent to the Gaza Strip returned to Cyprus. There are still around 240 tons of relief supplies on board that have not been distributed. About 100 tons of relief supplies had previously been unloaded from World Central Kitchen, the Cypriot Foreign Ministry said. Aid deliveries should start again “as soon as possible,” said a ministry spokesman.
Bettina Meier, ARD Tel Aviv, tagesschau, April 2nd, 2024 2:00 p.m