Biden criticises Israel for death of 7 aid workers in Gaza strike

US President Joe Biden has criticised Israel saying it has not has not done enough to protect civilians as he expressed outrage over the deadly strike that killed seven aid workers including one American in GazaSeven aid workers who were working for the World Central Kitchen a charity delivering food to besieged Palestinians were killed in the Israeli airstrike in Gaza on Tuesday The victims comprised three British nationals an Australian a Polish national an AmericanCanadian dual citizen and a Palestinian In a statement on Tuesday Biden said he is outraged and heartbroken by the tragic incidentThey were providing food to hungry civilians in the middle of a war They were brave and selfless Their deaths are a tragedy Israel has pledged to conduct a thorough investigation into why the aid workers vehicles were hit by airstrikes That investigation must be swift it must bring accountability and its findings must be made public he saidEven more tragically this is not a standalone incident 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 Biden saidNoting that incidents like this simply should not happen the president said 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 he saidBiden said the US will continue to do all we can to deliver humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians in Gaza through all available means I will continue to press Israel to do more to facilitate that aid And we are pushing hard for an immediate ceasefire as part of a hostage deal I have a team in Cairo working on this right nowEarlier in the day Biden spoke with Chef Jose Andres the founder of World Central Kitchen to convey his deepest condolences for the deaths of these courageous aid workers and to express my continued support for his and his teams relentless and heroic efforts to get food to hungry people around the globeWhite House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby told reporters that the US has seen the comments from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and from the Israeli defence forces about their commitment to conduct an investigationAs we understand it a preliminary investigation has been completed today and presented to the army chief of staff and well obviously look to see what they discover in this preliminary one but we expect the broader investigation to be conducted and to be done so in a swift and comprehensive manner he saidWe hope that those findings will be made public and that there is appropriate accountability held but more than 200 aid workers have been killed in this conflict making it one of the worst for aid workers in recent history This incident is emblematic of a larger problem and evidence of why distribution of aid in Gaza has been so challenging Kirby saidAnnouncing the results of a preliminary investigation early Wednesday Israels military chief Lt Gen Herzi Halevi expressed remorse over the killings and called the event a grave mistake Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the killing of seven World Central Kitchen workers delivering deeply needed food aid in Gaza is an outrageThe government of Israel must allow the flow of lifesaving aid to innocent families in Gaza and ensure safe passage for those delivering the aid Hunger cannot be a weapon of war We must share our food and our humanity Pelosi saidSenator Chris Murphy Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East South Asia Central Asia and Counterterrorism said World Central Kitchen volunteers have played a heroic role in getting food to innocent civilians facing famine inside GazaThe deaths of these seven aid workers killed by Israeli airstrikes are outrageous and underscore the continued need for Israel to set up a working deconfliction mechanism with humanitarian organizations to prevent these tragedies from happening he saidSince this incident aid ships carrying 240 tons of additional humanitarian aid have left Gazas shore and turned back toward Cyprus and the UAE is pausing its support of the maritime corridor Murphy saidWith the sea route shutting down and delivery of aid via land routes already far too restricted it is near impossible for enough urgently needed humanitarian assistance to reach Gaza Israel must immediately suspend military operations inside Gaza and allow for a dramatic surge in humanitarian aid he saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete 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