Chief of General Staff LTG Herzi Halevi on the unintentional harm to the members of the WCK
(Video: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
IDF Chief of Staff LTG Herzi Halevi addressed Tuesday overnight the incident in which seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) volunteers were accidentally killed by military forces, saying, “It was a mistake that followed a misidentification–at night during a war in very complex conditions. It shouldn’t have happened.”
In a statement released by the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit in English, Halevi said, “Last night, seven employees of the World Central Kitchen (WCK) were killed. WCK is an organization whose people work across the globe, including in Israel, to do good deeds in difficult conditions. The IDF works closely with the World Central Kitchen and greatly appreciates the important work that they do."
“The IDF completed a preliminary debriefing. I want to be very clear; the strike wasn’t carried out with the intention of harming WCK aid workers,” Halevi added. “The initial findings were just presented to me here in the Southern Command. I also visited the new Humanitarian Command Center we established today to improve the way we coordinate aid distribution in Gaza.”
“This incident was a grave mistake. Israel is at a war with Hamas, not with the people of Gaza.,” Halevi added. “We are sorry for the unintentional harm to the members of WCK workers. We're sharing the grief of their families as well as the entire World Central Kitchen Organization.”
“An independent body will investigate the incident thoroughly,” Halevi said. “We will complete it in the next coming days. We will learn from the conclusions and implement them immediately. We will share, in full transparency, the findings of the investigation with the World Central Kitchen and other international relevant organizations. We see great importance in our continued delivery of humanitarian aid. To keep working to facilitate this vital effort.”
Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden said on Tuesday he was "outraged" after the incident in Gaza, in which an American volunteer was also killed, believing that Israel doesn’t protect "enough" volunteers coming to the aid of the “starving” Palestinian population.
“Even more tragic, this is not an isolated event,” he lamented in a press release. “This conflict has been one of the worst in recent history in terms of the number of aid workers killed,” he continued, adding that such deaths should “simply not happen.”