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WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden on Tuesday expressed outrage over the death of seven humanitarian workers from the nonprofit organization World Central Kitchen, including one American, in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip. expressed.
“They were feeding starving civilians in the midst of a war,” Biden said in a statement. “They were brave and selfless. Their deaths are a tragedy.”
Biden called chef Jose Andrés, who founded the organization in 2010, to express his condolences. The president said he was heartbroken by the workers’ deaths and praised the organization’s “relentless and heroic efforts to feed hungry people around the world.”
Israel has pledged to conduct a thorough investigation into why the aid worker’s vehicle was hit by an airstrike. “The investigation must be swift, there must be accountability, and the findings must be made public,” Biden said.
Seven workers were killed on Monday when a convoy departing from a Deir al-Balah warehouse unloading more than 100 tons of humanitarian aid shipped to Gaza by sea was attacked, the group said.
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The organization said it was coordinating its actions with the Israeli military and that the workers were traveling in two armored vehicles bearing the World Central Kitchen logo. Among those killed was Jacob Flickinger, 33, a dual citizen of the United States and Canada.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the airstrike that killed the workers was unintentional and “tragic.”
Biden administration spokesman for national security affairs John Kirby said at the White House there was no evidence the Israelis knew they were targeting humanitarian workers. The worker’s death is “symbolic of a larger problem and evidence of why it is so difficult to distribute aid in Gaza,” he said.
Kirby said more than 200 humanitarian workers have been killed since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7 last year.
Biden said in a statement that the worker’s death is even more tragic because it was not the result of an isolated incident.
“This conflict is one of the worst in recent memory in terms of the number of deaths among aid workers,” he said. “This is the main reason why it is so difficult to distribute humanitarian aid in Gaza. This is because no measures have been taken.”
Biden said Israel is also not doing enough to protect civilians.
“The United States has repeatedly called on Israel to avoid conflict between military and humanitarian operations against Hamas to avoid civilian casualties,” he said. World Central Kitchen announced it would suspend operations in Gaza following the deaths of seven employees.
Biden said Tuesday that the United States remains committed to providing humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip “through all available means.” The president vowed to press Israel to do more to facilitate aid, saying his administration was pushing hard for an immediate ceasefire as part of a hostage release agreement.
“Right now we have a team in Cairo working on this,” he said.
Contributed by: Reuters
Michael Collins covers the White House. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @mcollinsNEWS.
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