Israel’s defense chief yesterday said a strike that killed seven aid workers in Gaza was a “grave mistake,” after the deaths prompted a chorus of international outrage.
“This incident was a grave mistake,” Israeli Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi said in a video message after the strike that hit a World Central Kitchen (WCK) convoy delivering aid on Monday.
“It shouldn’t have happened,” Halevi said, blaming the strike on a nighttime “misidentification.”
Photo: AFP
“We are sorry for the unintentional harm to the members of WCK,” he added.
AFPTV footage from the scene showed the punctured roof of a vehicle emblazoned with WCK’s logo alongside the mangled wreck of other vehicles.
Since the October start of the war, the US-based charity had been involved in feeding displaced Gazans, and was one of two organizations spearheading the delivery of food aid arriving by sea.
The attack, which killed Australian, British, Palestinian, Polish and US-Canadian staff, was widely condemned, with world leaders demanding an investigation.
In a strongly worded statement, US President Joe Biden said Israel “has not done enough to protect aid workers trying to deliver desperately needed help to civilians.”
He called for a “swift” investigation to bring accountability to what he said was not a “standalone incident.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the UN General Assembly that 196 humanitarian workers have been killed in the war.
He called the strike “unconscionable,” but “an inevitable result of the way the war is being conducted.”
“It demonstrates yet again the urgent need for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” he said.
WCK said it was mourning the loss of its seven “heroes,” naming them on Wednesday as Palestinian Saifeddine Issam Ayad Abutaha, 25; Australian Lalzawmi Frankcom, 43; Pole Damian Sobol, 35; American-Canadian Jacob Flickinger, 33; and Britons John Chapman, 57, James Henderson, 33, and James Kirby, 47.
Gaza has been under Israeli blockade since the start of the war, with the UN accusing Israel of preventing humanitarian aid deliveries and warning of “catastrophic” hunger.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military had “unintentionally” killed the aid workers, calling it a “tragic case” that would be investigated “right to the end.”
However, he did not apologize.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he spoke to Netanyahu by phone, raising his “anger and concern.”
The aid workers’ deaths come as relentless Israeli strikes continue to pound the territory, flattening critical infrastructure, all but collapsing the health system and pushing more than half the population to the brink of famine.
Overnight, Israeli strikes killed at least 60 people, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said yesterday.
Meanwhile, the families of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas have blasted Netanyahu and staged four consecutive nights of protests.
Thousands gathered in front of the country’s parliament on Tuesday, with former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak blaming Netanyahu for the Oct. 7 “disaster” and demanding an election.
Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is still held in Gaza, accused Netanyahu of trying to blacken the reputation of the hostage families.
“You call us traitors when you are the traitor, a traitor to your people, to the State of Israel,” Zangauker said.
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