The Israeli military has expressed “sincere sorrow” over the deaths of seven aid workers killed in an airstrike on Gaza, but stopped short of accepting responsibility for it.
Israeli military spokesperson, Rear Adm Daniel Hagari, said the incident would be investigated in the “Fact Finding and Assessment Mechanism”, which his statement called an “independent, professional, and expert body”, without giving further details.
He said he had spoken to the WCK founder, chef José Andrés, and expressed his deepest condolences.
“We also express sincere sorrow to our allied nations who have been doing and continue to do so much to assist those in need,” he said in the statement.
The strike hit an aid convoy, killing seven people working with World Central Kitchen (WCK), a charity spearheading efforts to alleviate looming famine in Gaza.
They were delivering desperately needed food aid that had been brought in by sea. The WCK said Israel was behind the airstrike.
Numerous western officials and ministers have demanded an explanation for the deaths after WCK said those killed were from the UK, Australia, Poland and Palestine, as well as a US-Canada dual citizen.
Cyprus’s president called for an immediate probe into the killing of seven aid workers in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, saying the US- based World Central Kitchen charity they were members of was a “crucial partner” in its initiative to get aid to the enclave by sea.
“We need to double down on efforts to get aid to Gaza,” Nikos Christodoulides said, after a meeting with the European parliament president, Roberta Metsola.
The Israeli military has expressed “sincere sorrow” over the deaths of seven aid workers killed in an airstrike on Gaza, but stopped short of accepting responsibility for it.
Israeli military spokesperson, Rear Adm Daniel Hagari, said the incident would be investigated in the “Fact Finding and Assessment Mechanism”, which his statement called an “independent, professional, and expert body”, without giving further details.
He said he had spoken to the WCK founder, chef José Andrés, and expressed his deepest condolences.
“We also express sincere sorrow to our allied nations who have been doing and continue to do so much to assist those in need,” he said in the statement.
The strike hit an aid convoy, killing seven people working with World Central Kitchen (WCK), a charity spearheading efforts to alleviate looming famine in Gaza.
They were delivering desperately needed food aid that had been brought in by sea. The WCK said Israel was behind the airstrike.
Numerous western officials and ministers have demanded an explanation for the deaths after WCK said those killed were from the UK, Australia, Poland and Palestine, as well as a US-Canada dual citizen.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said the destruction of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza amounted to “ripping the heart out” of the health system of the enclave.
“Destroying al-Shifa means ripping the heart out of the health system,” WHO spokesperson, Margaret Harris, was quoted by Reuters as saying.
“It was the place people go to for the kind of care that a really good health system provides, that we in all our societies expect to have should we be in need.”
Israeli forces left al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Monday after a two-week operation by special forces that left most of the major medical complex in ruins.
The Hamas-run Gaza media office said Israeli forces killed 400 Palestinians around the hospital and put the medical facility out of function.
The Israeli military said it had killed and detained hundreds of gunmen in clashes in the area of the hospital, and seized weaponry and intelligence documents.
The president of the city of Przemysl, in southeastern Poland, identified the Polish volunteer who was killed in the Israeli airstrike in Gaza as Damian Sobol.
“Yesterday, our colleague, resident of Przemysl, volunteer, member of the World Central Kitchen team – Damian Sobol, was killed in a rocket attack by Israeli forces on a humanitarian convoy delivering food in the Gaza Strip,” he wrote on Facebook.
“There are no words to describe what people who knew this fantastic guy feel at this moment … May he rest in peace.”
Foreign ministry spokesperson Pawel Wronski told reporters Poland was checking reports of the death of the Polish volunteer.
“We are currently urgently verifying this information,” he said. “We have asked the Israeli authorities, security forces and the Israeli armed forces for explanations.”
Deputy justice minister Arkadiusz Myrcha told state news channel TVP Info there would be an investigation into the incident.
“There is no exception here, of course every death must be explained and such proceedings should be initiated here,” he said.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, will hold talks in Paris on Tuesday after seven aid workers were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza.
Blinken arrived in the French capital before heading to Brussels for a Nato ministerial meeting on Wednesday.
France on Monday proposed a draft UN security council resolution that seeks options for possible UN monitoring of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and proposals to help the Palestinian Authority assume responsibilities.
The EU has called for a “thorough investigation” into the deaths of seven aid workers in Gaza bringing food from the World’s Central Kitchen to starving Palestinians.
“We are mourning with the families and friends of the @WCKitchen humanitarian aid workers who lost their lives in Gaza,” the European Commission said in a post on X.
“Humanitarian aid workers must always be protected, in line with international humanitarian law. We call for a thorough investigation into this tragedy.”
The EU, along with the US and Cyprus, were instrumental in establishing a maritime corridor to bring aid to Gaza across the Mediterranean.
A pilot delivery with a ship operated by a Spanish search and rescue group, Open Arms, taking 200 tonnes of food provided by the charity, World Central Kitchen, arrived in Gaza in the second week in March.
Another US-based charity, American Near East Refugee Aid (Anera), which helps provide emergency relief for Palestinians, has told BBC News that it is also freezing its operations in Gaza, following on from the World Central Kitchen’s (WCK) announcement earlier.
“Anera and WCK are pausing our Gaza operations. Together, Anera and WCK provide some 2 million meals a week in Gaza,” Sean Carroll, the charity’s CEO, said.
Asked about the impact the decision to suspend food provision would have on Palestinian people, whom face a looming famine, Caroll said: “The occupying power has an obligation under international law to provide for the people under occupation.”
Anera, which has been working closely with WCK in recent months, says on its website that it works on the ground with partners in Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan.
It said that its medical team helped treat hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza on Sunday and Monday, providing displaced people free medication in the process.
The seven WCK aid workers were killed by a suspected Israeli airstrike fired on their convoy south of Deir al-Balah late on Monday. Medical officials said the group had been helping to deliver food and other supplies to northern Gaza that had arrived hours earlier by ship.
While Israel has claimed it is allowing aid into Gaza, senior UN, US and other international officials, as well as NGOs, have accused the country of obstructing life-saving aid to Gaza’s population of 2.3 million.
The UN said last week that famine was “ever closer to becoming a reality in northern Gaza” and that the health system was collapsing owing to the continuing hostilities and “access constraints”.
Here is the full statement issued by Australia’s foreign minister, Penny Wong, on the death of Lalzawmi Frankcom, the Australian aid worker killed by an Israeli military airstrike in Gaza.
The statement reads:
It is with overwhelming sadness that the Australian Government confirms the death of an Australian aid worker in Gaza.
The tributes flowing for Lalzawmi ‘Zomi’ Frankcom tell the story of a life dedicated to the service of others, including her fellow Australians during natural disasters.
Her tireless work to improve the lives of others should never have cost Ms Frankcom her own.
The government expresses its deepest sympathies to her family and loved ones, just as we mourn all civilian deaths in this conflict.
The department of foreign affairs and trade is providing consular assistance to her family in Australia. The death of any aid worker is outrageous and unacceptable.
Throughout this conflict, Australia has called for restraint, for the protection of civilians and safe and unimpeded access for humanitarian assistance.
The Australian government condemns this strike. The government has made representations to the Netanyahu government and seeks a thorough and expeditious review. We expect full accountability for these deaths.
We repeat our demands for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire leading to a sustainable ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and that international humanitarian law be upheld.
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said he was “horrified” by the deaths of the seven World Central Kitchen staff members who were reported to have been killed in an Israeli airstrike.
“Horrified by the death of seven humanitarian workers from @WCKitchen in an airstrike in Gaza. I have just conveyed to @chefjoseandres my sincere condolences and all my love and support for him and his team,” he wrote on X.
“Your solidarity, altruism and commitment to those who need it most is a source of pride. The government of Spain is with you.”
Chef José Andrés, the founder of the WCK charity, was born in Spain and is a naturalised US citizen.
He said on X that the charity “lost several of our sisters and brothers in an IDF airstrike in Gaza”.
“I am heartbroken and grieving for their families and friends and our whole WCK family. These are people … angels … I served alongside in Ukraine, Gaza, Turkey, Morocco, Bahamas, Indonesia. They are not faceless … they are not nameless.
He said the Israeli government needed to “stop this indiscriminate killing”.
Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, has vowed revenge after Israeli war planes destroyed the Iranian consulate in Damascus, killing at least 11 people, including a senior commander in the al-Quds force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps
“After repeated defeats and failures against the faith and will of the Resistance Front fighters, the Zionist regime has put blind assassinations on its agenda in the struggle to save itself,” Raisi said on his office’s website.
“Day by day, we have witnessed the strengthening of the Resistance Front and the disgust and hatred of free nations towards the illegitimate nature of (Israel). This cowardly crime will not go unanswered.”
Iran said that several long-serving diplomats were killed alongside Brig Gen Mohammad Reza Zahedi and Zahedi’s deputy, Gen Haji Rahimi. It was also reported that Brig Gen Hossein Amirollah, the chief of general staff for the al-Quds force in Syria and Lebanon, was among the victims.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 11 people were killed in the attack.
Iran’s ambassador to Syria, Hossein Akbari, said Iran’s response to the strike would be “at the same magnitude and harshness”.
The strike follows a marked increase in violence between Israel and Hezbollah on the Israeli-Lebanon boundary since Hamas’s 7 October attack, as well as the resumption of violent attacks by Iranian-backed militia on US and Israeli positions in Iraq.
The Polish foreign ministry has expressed its condolences to the family of the Polish volunteer who was among the seven aid workers killed in Gaza.
“We express our sincerest condolences to the family of the volunteer who provided aid to the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip,” the ministry wrote in a post on X.
“Poland does not agree to the lack of compliance with international humanitarian law and the protection of civilians, including humanitarian workers.”
The World Central Kitchen said earlier that those killed in the Israeli airstrike were “from Australia, Poland, United Kingdom, a dual citizen of the US and Canada, and Palestine” and announced that it was “pausing our operations in the region” in response.
As we reported earlier, a British national was, according to the World Central Kitchen (WCK), among the seven aid workers killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza.
A spokesperson for the UK’s Foreign Office said on Tuesday morning: “We are aware of reports of the death of a British national in Gaza and are urgently seeking further information.”
The education secretary, Gillian Keegan, told the BBC that the UK government was “very concerned” over the reports and that it was “worrying” that the WCK had suspended its work in Gaza.
She said:
We haven’t had it confirmed yet, but we are very, very concerned by the situation.
We do know that we’ve urged Israel to do more to protect civilians, but also to allow aid to get into Gaza.
But we haven’t yet had this confirmed and I think the IDF are reviewing this, probably as we speak …
One of the key things is trying to ensure we get more aid into Gaza, so if one of the charities working on the ground has suspended, then that’s obviously deeply concerning.
Our thoughts would go to everybody affected.
The secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, has shared his condolences over the killing of the seven aid workers in Gaza.
He said that nowhere else are so many aid workers killed and called for an immediate ceasefire in the conflict.
Unrwa, the UN Palestinian refugee agency, which is the main UN agency in Gaza, and other aid groups have said sending truck convoys to northern Gaza has been too dangerous because of the Israeli military’s failure to ensure safe passage.
In its latest report, Unrwa said that 173 of its workers have been killed in Gaza. The figure does not include workers for other aid organisations.
The bodies of the aid workers have been taken to a hospital in the southern city of Rafah on the Egyptian border, according to an Associated Press reporter at the hospital.
The bodies of the foreign aid workers will reportedly be evacuated out of Gaza and the Palestinian driver’s body will be handed to his family in Rafah for burial.
Cyprus’ foreign ministry has offered condolences to the family and friends of the World Central Kitchen aid workers killed in an Israeli airstrike and has demanded a swift investigation into the incident.
Cypriot authorities have established, in cooperation with Israel, a maritime corridor to facilitate pre-screened cargoes arriving directly in Gaza.
WCK was involved in the first shipment of aid to Gaza via a sea corridor from Cyprus in March.
A second WCK maritime aid shipment carrying 332 tonnes of food was due to arrive in Gaza early this week.
Here’s a rundown on the latest key developments:
The food aid charity World Central Kitchen (WCK) says seven of its team members were killed in what it called an Israeli military strike in central Gaza on Monday.
The seven were from Australia, Poland, the UK, a dual citizen of the US and Canada, and Palestine, WCK said.
The workers were travelling in two armoured cars branded with the charity’s logo in Deir al-Balah, according to WCK. It said it was immediately “pausing” its operations in the region.
An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said it was “conducting a thorough review at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of this tragic incident”.
Footage showed the bodies of five of the WCK workers at Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah. Several of them wore protective body armour with the charity’s logo.
Medical officials said the group had been helping to deliver food and other supplies to northern Gaza that had arrived hours early by ship.
Australia’s prime minister said the death of an Australian aid worker among those killed was “completely unacceptable” and the government demanded “full accountability”. Lalzawmi Frankcom died “doing the work she loves”, her grieving family said.
The White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, plans to travel to Saudi Arabia this week for talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman amid a US push for progress toward normalising relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Talks on normalisation had been put on ice in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’s 7 October attack and Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza, but conversations have resumed in recent months.
Reuters reports a US official said Sullivan planned talks with the crown prince to check in on the issue but did not expect a major breakthrough. Sullivan would consult broadly on a number of matters, a second US official said, adding:
He has not been to Saudi Arabia in some time and there’s lots to discuss.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said almost two weeks ago that the US and Saudi Arabia had made “good progress” in talks on normalising ties between the kingdom and Israel, without providing a timeline for concluding a deal.
As part of a normalisation deal, Saudi Arabia wants to secure a mutual defence pact with Washington and get US support for its civil nuclear program.
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2024-04-02 09:33:24Z
CBMimgFodHRwczovL3d3dy50aGVndWFyZGlhbi5jb20vd29ybGQvbGl2ZS8yMDI0L2Fwci8wMi9taWRkbGUtZWFzdC1jcmlzaXMtbGl2ZS11cGRhdGVzLWlzcmFlbC1nYXphLXdhci10b2RheS1nYXphLWZvcmVpZ24tYWlkLXdvcmtlcnMta2lsbGVkLWlkZi1pbnZlc3RpZ2F0aW9u0gGaAWh0dHBzOi8vYW1wLnRoZWd1YXJkaWFuLmNvbS93b3JsZC9saXZlLzIwMjQvYXByLzAyL21pZGRsZS1lYXN0LWNyaXNpcy1saXZlLXVwZGF0ZXMtaXNyYWVsLWdhemEtd2FyLXRvZGF5LWdhemEtZm9yZWlnbi1haWQtd29ya2Vycy1raWxsZWQtaWRmLWludmVzdGlnYXRpb24
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