According to US State Department Spokesperson, Matthew Miller, the United States wants to see the Israeli investigation into an attack that killed seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers in Gaza completed as soon as possible.
“Israel needs to put in place better deconfliction and coordination measures to protect humanitarian workers and protect all civilians on the ground,” Miller told reporters at a regular news briefing.
He revealed that the State Department will look at how the Israeli investigation is conducted, as well as its results.
He also stated that the killings are unacceptable and that Israel needs to “do better.”
Separately, Spanish Premier, Pedro Sanchez, demanded further details from Israel about the killing of seven people working for World Central Kitchen.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the incident “a tragic event in which our forces unintentionally harmed non-combatants”, adding that “this happens in war.”
“We do not think the supposed explanations of (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu have been sufficient,” Sanchez stated.
“We expect a more detailed clarification of the causes and reasons for this bombing, especially given that the Israeli government knew about the NGO’s itinerary. From there, we will see what measures we take.”
Pedro Sanchez
Meanwhile, Celebrity chef and founder of World Central Kitchen (WCK), Jose Andres asserted that the Israeli attack that killed seven of the NGO’s food aid workers in Gaza had targeted them “systematically, car by car.”
Speaking in a video interview with a news agency, Andres divulged that the WCK charity group had clear communication with the Israeli military, which he said knew his aid workers’ movements.
This was not a “bad luck situation where, ‘oops,’ we dropped the bomb in the wrong place,” Andres said.
“Even if we were not in coordination with the [Israeli army], no democratic country and no military can be targeting civilians and humanitarians,” he added.
Andres said that he was supposed to be with his team but for various reasons “wasn’t able to go back again to Gaza.”
‘Shocking increase’ in number of children denied aid in conflicts: UN
The last report by the United Nations secretary-general on the rights of children in conflicts – published in June 2023, four months before Israel’s war on Gaza began – recorded nearly 4,000 confirmed cases, of which almost half were of Israeli forces denying aid to children in the enclave.
“Data gathered for our forthcoming 2024 report shows we are on target to witness a shocking increase of the incidents of the denial of humanitarian access globally,” Virginia Gamba, the secretary-general’s special representative for children and armed conflict, told the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Wednesday.
The UN has, since Israel’s war on Gaza began, repeatedly denounced restrictions Israel has placed on aid entering the enclave.
“As a result of these constraints, children cannot access age-appropriate nutritious food or medical services and have less than two to three litres of water per day,” UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban told the UNSC.
“The consequences have been clear,” Chaiban said, noting that one in three children in northern Gaza under two years old suffer from acute malnutrition and that this figure “has more than doubled in the last two months”.
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