Netanyahu Says ‘Unintentional’ Israeli Airstrike Killed Aid Workers in Gaza
Seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen were killed in an Israeli airstrike after they delivered a crucial shipment of food to displaced civilians in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed Israeli Defense Forces forces were responsible for the deaths in a video posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday. “Our forces unintentionally hit innocent people in the Gaza Strip,” he said. “As it happens in war, we are investigating the matter fully, we are in contact with the governments, and we will do everything possible to prevent this from happening again.”
The workers were traveling in two armored cars branded with the charity’s logo in a de-conflicted zone, WCK said in a statement issued Tuesday morning. “Despite coordinating movements with the IDF, the convoy was hit as it was leaving the Deir al-Balah warehouse, where the team had unloaded more than 100 tons of humanitarian food aid brought to Gaza on the maritime route,” the statement read.
The WCK added that it will be “pausing our operations immediately in the region” and “making decisions about the future of our work soon.”
“This is not only an attack against WCK, this is an attack on humanitarian organizations showing up in the most dire of situations where food is being used as a weapon of war,” WCK CEO Erin Gore said.
José Andrés, the chef who founded the nonprofit, wrote on X that the Israeli military was behind the airstrike, but that was not immediately confirmed. “The Israeli government needs to stop this indiscriminate killing. It needs to stop restricting humanitarian aid, stop killing civilians and aid workers, and stop using food as a weapon,” he wrote. “No more innocent lives lost. Peace starts with our shared humanity. It needs to start now.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a press conference Tuesday that President Joe Biden called Andrés to express his heartbreak over the attack. “The president conveyed he is grieving with the entire World Central Kitchen family,” she said.
Biden has been under intense pressure to do more to stop Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, from pro-Palestine protesters as well as from Democrats in Congress. “I’m just saying to President Biden, you said ‘no excuses’ when it comes to getting humanitarian aid into Gaza,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said on Sunday. “Prime Minister Netanyahu continues to drag his feet … So, instead of just sending more bombs without in turn getting the request that you want, Mr. President, let’s at least make this a partnership.”
John Kirby of the National Security Council added that the White House is “outraged” by the attack, and that there is no evidence it was intentional. Kirby was asked how the U.S. can continue sending military aid to Israel with no conditions attached. “You want us to hang some sort of condition over their neck, and what I’m telling you is that we continue to work with the Israelis and to make sure that they are as precise as they can be,” he said.
Graphic footage that The Associated Press said was from Al-Aqsa Hospital showed at least five bodies. Hospital staff appeared to show passports of foreign nationals from Australia, Britain, and Poland; the nationality of the fourth aid worker was not immediately clear. Some appeared to wear protective gear with the charity’s logo. A Palestinian man was among those killed, who was described in a news conference as the nonprofit’s driver at the time of the strike.
The IDF said it was conducting a review “to understand the circumstances of this tragic incident.” Some members of Congress in America are eager to hear the results. “I look forward to the results of Israel’s announced investigation and stress that it must be comprehensive and transparent, and that those responsible for this failure must be held to account,” Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) said in a statement.
Last month, World Central Kitchen became the first to test a new maritime corridor for desperately needed aid to northern Gaza, where the United Nations’ Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) estimated famine will reach by May and could spread throughout the rest of Gaza by July.
Earlier on Monday, the AP reported that the group’s second delivery by sea, carrying 400 tons of food and supplies from Cyprus, had arrived for the territory. The Israeli military was reportedly involved in coordinating both of the nonprofit’s deliveries.
In late February, health authorities in Gaza reported that Israeli soldiers shot at a crowd that had gathered to receive food from an aid convoy, the first delivery to the region in a month, and that more than 100 people were killed and approximately 760 were wounded in the attack. According to the Gaza health ministry, more than 32,000 people have been killed since Oct. 7.
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