Canada, U.S. demand Israel respect humanitarian law after World Central Kitchen strike in Gaza
Charity's founder says team was targeted 'systematically'; Israel says strike was a mistake
Some of Israel's closest allies, including Canada and the United States, have condemned the deaths of seven aid workers who were killed by airstrikes in Gaza, prompting multiple charities to suspend food deliveries to Palestinians on the brink of starvation.
The deaths on Monday of the World Central Kitchen (WCK) workers threatened to set back efforts by the U.S. and other countries to open a maritime corridor for aid from Cyprus to help ease the desperate conditions in northern Gaza.
Among the dead were citizens of some of Israel's closest allies, including Jacob Flickinger — a dual citizen of Canada and the United States, a retired member of the Canadian Armed Forces and father to an 18-month old son.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday officials had spoken to Iddo Moed, Israel's ambassador to Canada, to express "our dismay at the unacceptable deaths."
"The world needs very clear answers as to how this happened," Trudeau said at a housing announcement in Toronto.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said she has spoken to her Israeli counterpart, Israel Katz.
"Israel needs to respect international humanitarian law, and we will make sure that is the case," said Joly, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Wednesday.
The dead also included one Polish citizen, one Australian and three U.K. citizens; countries that have been key backers of Israel's nearly six-month-old offensive in Gaza.
U.S. President Joe Biden earlier issued an unusually blunt criticism of Israel, suggesting Washington's closest ally in the Mideast is not doing enough to protect humanitarian efforts in Gaza.
"The United States has repeatedly urged Israel to de-conflict their military operations against Hamas with humanitarian operations, in order to avoid civilian casualties," he said.
Britain, Poland and Australia joined Canada and the U.S. in calling on Israel for answers.
In the wake of the deaths, ships still laden with some 240 tons of aid from WCK turned back from Gaza just a day after arriving, according to officials in Cyprus. Other aid organizations also suspended operations in Gaza, saying it was too dangerous to offer help. Israel has allowed only a trickle of food and supplies into Gaza's devastated north, where experts say famine is imminent.
Targeted 'systematically'
WCK founder José Andrés alleged on Wednesday the workers were targeted "systematically, car by car."
"This was not just a bad luck situation where, 'Oops, we dropped the bomb in the wrong place'… This was [airstrikes] over 1.5, 1.8 kilometres with a very defined humanitarian convoy that had signs in the top, in the roof," he told Reuters.
"What I know is that we were targeted deliberately, nonstop until everybody was dead in this convoy."
Israel's military chief, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said a preliminary investigation early Wednesday concluded the strikes were a "grave mistake."
"It was a mistake that followed a misidentification — at night during a war in very complex conditions. It shouldn't have happened," he said in a video statement.
He said an independent body would conduct a "thorough investigation" that would be completed in the coming days.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier acknowledged the "unintended strike ... on innocent people" and said officials would work to ensure it does not happen again.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav has ordered the opening of a joint situation room enabling co-ordination between the military and aid groups.
WCK says it had co-ordinated with the Israeli military over the movement of its vehicles.
Despite that, three of them, moving at large distances apart, were hit in succession. They were incinerated and mangled, indicating multiple targeted strikes.
At least one of the vehicles had the charity's logo printed across its roof to make it identifiable from the air — the ordnance punched a large hole through that roof.
Footage of the bodies at a nearby hospital in Deir al-Balah showed several of them wearing protective gear with the charity's logo.
The deaths have highlighted what critics have called Israel's indiscriminate bombing and lack of regard for civilian casualties in Gaza.
Israel already faces growing isolation over Gaza. On the same day as the deadly airstrikes, Israel stirred more fears by apparently striking Iran's consulate in Damascus and killing two Iranian generals. The government also moved to shut down a foreign media outlet — Qatari-owned Al Jazeera television.
Deaths slow aid deliveries
The deaths sent a further chill through UN agencies and other aid groups that have said for months that sending truck convoys around Gaza — particularly in the north — has been extremely difficult because of the Israeli military's failure to either grant permission or ensure safe passage. Israel has barred UNRWA, the main UN agency in Gaza, from making deliveries to the north.
The U.S. and other countries have been working to set up the sea passage from Cyprus to get around the difficulties.
WCK was key to the new route. It and the United Arab Emirates sent a pilot shipment last month. Their second delivery of around 400 tons of food and supplies arrived on three ships hours before the strikes on the convoy.
Around 100 tons were unloaded before the charity suspended operations, and the rest was being taken back to Cyprus, Cypriot Foreign Ministry spokesman Theodoros Gotsis said.
Still, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said Tuesday that ship deliveries would continue.
Anera, a Washington-based aid group that has been operating in the Palestinian territories for decades, said that in the wake of the strikes it was taking the "unprecedented" step of pausing its own operations in Gaza, where it had been helping to provide around 150,000 meals daily.
"The escalating risks associated with aid delivery leave us with no choice," it said in a statement.
Jamie McGoldrick, the UN humanitarian co-ordinator for the Palestinian territories, said the strikes were "not an isolated incident." The UN says more than 180 humanitarian workers have been killed in the war.
"This is nearly three times the death toll recorded in any single conflict in a year," he said.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel in a surprise attack on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage. Israel's responding offensive has killed more than 32,900 people in Gaza, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
With files from Reuters