President Joe Biden on Tuesday said that Israel “has not done enough to protect aid workers” in Gaza after the death of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers.
Biden spoke with celebrity chef José Andrés, the founder of World Central Kitchen, after seven workers were killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza. After the call he said in a statement that he was “outraged and heartbroken” and pressed the Israeli government for a “swift” investigation.
"Even more tragically, this is not a stand-alone incident. This conflict has been one of the worst in recent memory in terms of how many aid workers have been killed," Biden said. "This is a major reason why distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza has been so difficult — because Israel has not done enough to protect aid workers trying to deliver desperately needed help to civilians. Incidents like yesterday's simply should not happen. Israel has also not done enough to protect civilians."
An Israeli Defense Forces official said Tuesday that the strike "was not carried out with the intention of harming,” according to Axios.
"It was a mistake that followed a misidentification at night during a war in very complex conditions," he added. "It shouldn't have happened."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a “tragic incident of an unintentional targeting of innocent civilians in Gaza that we regret."
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he offered "sincere apologies over the tragic loss of life of WCK staff" in a call with Andrés.
Erin Gore, the group’s CEO, called the strike “unforgivable.”
"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," Gore said, accusing the IDF of a “targeted attack.”
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