US Fumes Over IDF Strike On Aid Workers, But Still Refuses ‘Conditions’ On Military Transfers
In a Tuesday afternoon press briefing, National Security Council Communications Adviser John Kirby expressed that the US is “outraged” by the targeted strike on the World Central Kitchen (WCK) convoy overnight. “We were outraged to learn of an IDF strike that killed a number of civilian humanitarian workers yesterday from the World Central Kitchen, which has been relentlessly working to get food to those who are hungry in Gaza,” he said.
Kirby laid out that the US expects Israel to conduct a broad and legitimate investigation: “We hope that those findings will be made public, and that there is appropriate accountability held,” he told the briefing. Kirby vowed that the US “will continue to press Israel to do more” in protecting aid workers and noted that over 200 local and international aid workers have been killed since the Gaza war started.
The White House also confirmed that President Biden called WCK founder José Andrés and expressed condolences for the seven staff members killed in the strike. The celebrity chef on Tuesday lashed out at Israel for its “indiscriminate killing” of his employees while they were delivering aid.
“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,” Andrés said on X. Israel has called it “unintentional” and “tragic,” with PM Netanyahu earlier in the day expressing regret (see below).
The killing of the aid workers, which included three British nationals, an Australian, a Polish national, an American-Canadian dual citizen and a Palestinian, has been featured throughout the day by US news networks. For example, in the early half of Tuesday, it was the top frontpage story at CNN.com.
But despite the US expressing “outrage” over the attack, when members of the White House press pool got into Q&A with Kirby, he still passionately emphasised that Israel has not violated international humanitarian norms in Gaza. This was pointed out as several clips circulated of the heated exchange online…
Baghdad Bob and Sean Spicer have nothing on John Kirby.
— Trita Parsi (@tparsi) April 2, 2024
Kirby says that there is no evidence that Israel deliberately struck WCK aid workers in Gaza. He also says that Israel has NOT violated international humanitarian law in Gaza (!!!)#CeasefireNOW pic.twitter.com/mJlt5EonBE
It also became evident in the briefing that the Biden administration still does not intend to attach any conditions to Israel’s use of US-supplied weaponry.
In fact, CNN has just reported, “The Biden administration is close to approving the sale of as many as 50 American-made F-15 fighter jets to Israel, in a deal expected to be worth more than $18 billion, according to three people familiar with the matter.”
But without doubt, this new tragedy in Gaza has significantly ramped up the pressure both on the Netanyahu government and on Washington, with the latter expected by outside countries to impose more punitive measures on Israel, or to at least cut off the flow of weapons and ammo.
My latest exchange with John Kirby — about why the WH won’t put conditions on military aid to Israel, even after yesterday’s killing of seven aid workers in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/Z2552Usfoi
— Niall Stanage (@NiallStanage) April 2, 2024
Israel’s military later in the day issued the following explanation after a preliminary investigation:
BREAKING: The preliminary IDF debrief into the WCK incident shows the strike was not carried out with the intention of harming WCK workers, but was a mistake that followed a misidentification, at night, in very complex conditions, IDF Chief of Staff Halevi says
— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) April 2, 2024
On Monday, an Israeli airstrike on the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah killed seven international aid workers with World Central Kitchen, resulting in the well-known charity announcing Tuesday that it must suspend operations to deliver food aid to Gaza.
Footage confirming their deaths is driving international outrage and again ramping up the pressure on Israel. The Associated Press writes Tuesday, “Footage showed the bodies, several wearing protective gear with the charity’s logo, at a hospital in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah.” The report details, “Those killed include three British nationals, an Australian, a Polish national, an American-Canadian dual citizen and a Palestinian, according to hospital records.”
The well-known charity was founded in 2010 by Spanish American chef and restaurateur José Andrés, and has been among many world charities and NGOs embedded in Gaza amid the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe.
World Central Kitchen CEO Erin Gore has said in a fresh 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.”
“This is unforgivable,” Gore added. The statement underscored that the team “was travelling in a deconflicted zone in two armoured cars branded with the WCK logo and a soft-skin vehicle.”
What makes this tragedy look even worse for Israel is that it was a targeted drone strike on a convoy operated by an international charity. Israel’s Haaretz reports that the attack was ostensibly targeting a Hamas member who wasn’t there. It was “launched because of suspicion that a terrorist was travelling with the convoy.” What’s more, the report indicates the convoy was bombed three times.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed regret in a Tuesday statement, amid growing pressure from the press and Western governments, acknowledging his military had conducted the “unintended strike” on “innocent people in the Gaza Strip.”
