The incident drew widespread condemnation and ratcheted up pressure on Israel to ease the disastrous humanitarian situation in Gaza after six months of war.
World Central Kitchen in Gaza was unintended and “tragic”, and the military pledged an independent inquiry.
WCK, which was founded by celebrity chef Jose Andres, said they had been travelling in two armoured cars emblazoned with the charity’s logo and another vehicle.“Unfortunately in the past day there was a tragic event in which our forces unintentionally harmed non-combatants in the Gaza Strip,” Mr Netanyahu said in a video statement.
“This is not only an attack against WCK, this is an attack on humanitarian organisations showing up in the most dire of situations where food is being used as a weapon of war,” said Erin Gore, chief executive of World Central Kitchen.US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington had spoken directly to close ally Israel’s government and “urged a swift, thorough and impartial investigation to understand exactly what happened”.
The Israeli military said it was conducting a thorough review at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of what it called a tragic incident, and pledged an investigation by “an independent, professional and expert body”. Hamas, Gaza’s dominant group, has said the main problem with aid distribution is Israeli targeting of aid workers. After the latest incident, it issued a statement saying the attack aimed to terrorise workers of international humanitarian agencies, deterring them from their missions.
“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 said.
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