Ambulances, carrying the remains of humanitarian workers from the American NGO World Central Kitchen, arrive at the Rafah crossing point with Egypt, in the south of the Gaza Strip, April 3, 2024 (AFP / SAID KHATIB)
The bodies of six foreign aid workers killed in an Israeli strike arrived in Egypt on Wednesday for repatriation to their respective countries, with Israel calling the strike a “grave mistake.”
The strike, which sparked a wave of international criticism, comes after nearly six months of a devastating war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, sparked by the Palestinian Islamist movement’s unprecedented attack in Israel on October 7. .
She killed seven members of World Central Kitchen (WCK, based in the United States) on Monday in Deir al-Balah (center) who had just unloaded “more than 100 tons of food brought to Gaza by sea”, according to the NGO .
The remains of the six Westerners (an Australian, a Pole, an American-Canadian and three British), who were killed with a Palestinian humanitarian, arrived in Egypt on Wednesday evening, Egyptian security sources announced. They were handed over to representatives of their countries for repatriation.
It is “a serious error” which “should not have happened”, admitted the chief of the Israeli general staff Herzi Halevi, referring to “a bad identification” in “very complex conditions”.
The day before, Israeli President Isaac Herzog presented his “apologies”, his Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referring to a “tragic” strike.
WCK announced that it would suspend its operations in the region.
– “Anger and concern” –
United Nations staff members inspect the car in which foreign aid workers were traveling, killed by an Israeli strike, on April 2, 2024 in Deir al-Balah, in the Gaza Strip (AFP / -)
The NGO which said it was “devastated” by the death of its collaborators had, since October 7, provided meals in the Palestinian territory, where the majority of some 2.4 million inhabitants are threatened with famine according to the ‘UN.
In mid-March, she participated in sending the first aid boat to Gaza from Cyprus.
On Wednesday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressed his “anger and concern” to his Israeli counterpart, Poland having announced to summon the Israeli ambassador to discuss Israel’s “moral, political and financial responsibility”.
The day before, the United Kingdom had announced that it would summon the Israeli ambassador to express its “unequivocal condemnation” of the Israeli strike.
A man pushes a bicycle through the ruins around the al-Chifa hospital district in Gaza on April 3, 2024 (AFP / -)
The UN, for its part, denounced a “disregard for international humanitarian law” and its workers, American President Joe Biden said he was “outraged”, believing that Israel does not “enough” protect people coming to the aid of the “starving” Palestinian population.
The Israeli strike against the seven members of World Central Kitchen “has the characteristics of a precision airstrike, indicating that the Israeli army intended to hit these vehicles,” said Richard Weir of the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW), quoted in a press release.
Since the start of the war, 196 aid workers have been killed, including 175 from the UN, according to its secretary general, Antonio Guterres.
– “We suffer” –
A Palestinian woman sits next to a patient in a hospital in the central Gaza Strip on April 3, 2024 (AFP / -)
On October 7, Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza carried out an attack in southern Israel which resulted in the deaths of at least 1,170 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data.
According to Israel, more than 250 people were kidnapped and 130 of them are still hostages, including 34 who died in Gaza.
In retaliation, Israel promised to annihilate Hamas and launched a campaign of aerial bombardments on the Gaza Strip, followed by a ground offensive that allowed its soldiers to advance from the north to the south of the small strip of land.
At least 32,975 people, mostly civilians, were killed in Israeli operations, according to Hamas, reporting on Wednesday 59 deaths in 24 hours.
In addition to the human toll and destruction, the war has caused a humanitarian catastrophe in the besieged territory where humanitarian aid, strictly controlled by Israel, is arriving in trickles.
A Palestinian child sitting in the rubble of a building destroyed by an Israeli strike in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, April 2, 2024 (AFP / MOHAMMED ABED)
A maritime corridor, as well as aid airdrops, have been set up due to the difficulty of bringing in food by land, but many countries and humanitarian organizations consider that the land route is the best way to allow the delivery of the enormous aid that the population needs.
In Gaza, AFP images show cohorts of men walking through rubble along a road where gutted buildings and closed stores follow one another. “We are suffering to bring back flour and feed our young children,” a man told AFPTV in Gaza City, where he had just received food aid.
– “Plausible risk of genocide” –
Smoke above Khan Younes during Israeli bombardments, in the south of the Gaza Strip, April 3, 2024 (AFP / SAID KHATIB)
In this context, the UN Human Rights Council will examine on Friday a draft resolution condemning “Israel’s use of explosive weapons with a wide range of action” in populated areas of Gaza and calling for a arms embargo on Israel. The text evokes “the plausible risk of a genocide in Gaza”.
After a vast two-week operation in the al-Chifa hospital complex in Gaza City, the Israeli army indicated on Tuesday that it was continuing its operations in the city of Khan Younes (south), particularly in the area of the Al hospital. -Amal, which had to cease its activities a week ago due to Israeli operations.
She accuses hospitals of housing Hamas bases, considered a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and the European Union.
On the front of negotiations around a truce project, Hamas leader Ismaïl Haniyeh on Wednesday accused Israel of procrastinating. On Tuesday, the Israeli prime minister’s office said its team of negotiators had returned from a new round of negotiations in Cairo. An assertion denied by a Hamas leader.