U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that the United States has urged Israel to promptly investigate an Israeli airstrike in Gaza that resulted in the deaths of seven humanitarian workers.
Blinken urges swift, impartial investigation into Israeli strike that killed aid workers in Gaza
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that the United States has urged Israel to promptly investigate an Israeli airstrike in Gaza that resulted in the deaths of seven humanitarian workers.
"We've spoken directly to the Israeli government about this particular incident. We've urged a swift, a thorough and impartial investigation to understand exactly what happened," Blinken said Tuesday during a press conference in Paris.
The United States-based aid group, World Central Kitchen (WCK), confirmed on Tuesday that its staff members were killed in an attack by the Israeli military.
The deceased were from Palestine, Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom, as well as a US-Canada citizen.
WCK said the attack occurred while its staff were delivering food from its latest shipment to Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians require food and
Humanitarian workers “have to be protected,” Blinken added. “We shouldn't have a situation where people who are simply trying to help their fellow human beings are themselves at grave risk.”
Hours before Blinken's meeting with French Foreign Minister Stephane Séjourné, the charity organization World Central Kitchen, founded by celebrity chef Jose Andres, said that seven of its personnel were killed in the Israeli airstrike in Gaza. The organization declared an immediate halt to its operations in the region.
Séjourné expressed strong condemnation of the airstrike during the joint press conference, saying the situation in Gaza "is disastrous and is worsening day after day. Nothing justifies such a tragedy.”
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said his government will establish a joint situation room with international groups to facilitate the coordination of aid distribution in Gaza alongside Israeli military operations.
People gather around a destroyed car used by the U.S.-based aid group World Central Kitchen, after it was hit by an Israeli strike the previous day in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on April 2, 2024.
UK Prime Minister Sunak has told Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu that "he was appalled by the killing of aid workers, including three British nationals, in an airstrike in Gaza yesterday", a Downing Street spokesperson says.
The BBC reports Sunak "demanded a thorough and transparent, independent investigation" into the incident, the spokesperson adds.
“The Prime Minister said far too many aid workers and ordinary civilians have lost their lives in Gaza and the situation is increasingly intolerable.
“The UK expects to see immediate action by Israel to end restrictions on humanitarian aid, deconflict with the UN and aid agencies, protect civilians and repair vital infrastructure like hospitals and water networks."
Sunak added that Israel’s aim of defeating Hamas would not be achieved by allowing a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
Earlier, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it was "absolutely unacceptable that aid workers were killed by the Israeli Defense Force".
Trudeau said he was "heartbroken" for the families of those killed and for the organisation that is trying to "counter the extraordinarily devastating humanitarian crisis going on in Gaza right now".
He joined calls for a full investigation into the strike and emphasised the need for "clarity on how this happened".
He added that the international community must push "continually towards a ceasefire" so that "no more aid workers are at risk of being killed in the enclave".