President Joe Biden criticized Israel in a statement after the U.S. ally killed multiple humanitarian workers in an attack in Gaza.
Seven World Central Kitchen workers were killed, according to the Associated Press.
Biden, who said in the statement that he is “outraged and heartbroken” about their deaths, said Israel had failed to do enough to shield civilians.
“This conflict has been one of the worst in recent memory in terms of how many aid workers have been killed. 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. The United States has repeatedly urged Israel to deconflict their military operations against Hamas with humanitarian operations, in order to avoid civilian casualties,” Biden said in the statement.
Israel has acknowledged responsibility for the deaths.
Israel Defense Forces Chief of the General Staff LTG Herzi Halevi indicated that the attack had not been executed with the intent of killing of the humanitarian workers but was a “mistake that followed a misidentification.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted in a post on X that “Israel deeply regrets the tragic incident which claimed the lives of seven humanitarian aid workers.”
“The IDF is conducting a swift and transparent investigation and we will make our findings public,” Netanyahu noted. “Israel is fully committed to enabling humanitarian aid to reach the civilian population in Gaza and we will do everything in our power to ensure that such tragedies do not occur in the future.”
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