The President of the United States, Joe Biden has announced that he is “outraged and heartbroken” by Israel’s alleged killing of seven aid workers in Gaza, delivering some of his strongest criticism yet of the close US ally.
Biden’s criticism is the most recent instance of his inconsistent stance on the conflict, as his government is becoming more disapproving of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the situation while simultaneously emphasizing the importance of continuing to provide Israel with military supplies.
In a statement issued by the White House on Tuesday night which was obtained by Africa Today News, New York, Biden squarely accused Israel of not doing enough to protect innocent civilians in its war against Hamas.
“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 said, describing the deceased aid workers as “brave and selfless”.
“Incidents like yesterday’s simply should not happen. Israel has also not done enough to protect civilians. The US has repeatedly urged Israel to deconflict their military operations against Hamas with humanitarian operations, in order to avoid civilian casualties.”
Biden said an investigation that Israel has promised to carry out into the incident “must be swift, it must bring accountability, and its findings must be made public”.
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“The United States will continue to do all we can to deliver humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians in Gaza, through all available means,” he said.
“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 now.”
The seven workers for the US-based aid organisation World Central Kitchen were killed on Monday night when the convoy they were travelling in was attacked after unloading food aid in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah city.
A US-Canadian dual citizen, an Australian, a Pole, a Palestinian and three nationals of the United Kingdom were killed in the attack.
Netanyahu earlier on Tuesday acknowledged Israel’s responsibility for the attack, describing it as unintended and “tragic”.