‘A clear war crime’: President of Refugees International on killed aid workers
Jeremy Konyndyk, who also served as a US international development official in the Biden and Obama administrations, calls the Israeli strike on World Central Kitchen staff a war crime and “part of a clear pattern”.
In a post on X, he says the pattern is of the Israeli army “striking humanitarians routinely since early in the war, while refusing repeated calls to set up a functional deconfliction system that would actually protect humanitarians”.
“President Biden and his senior officials know it. But they’ve done little beyond scold the Israelis over it while continuing to send weapons. This is the inevitable result,” Konyndyk added.
You don't strike a deconflicted convoy repeatedly, hitting three vehicles in succession over the course of a kilometer of road, by accident.
You do that by fostering a military culture that treats Gaza as a free fire zone with total impunity for gross attacks on civilians.
— Jeremy Konyndyk is at jeremykonyndyk.bsky.social (@JeremyKonyndyk) April 2, 2024
Netanyahu now knows he has a political problem and he's already trying to spin this as a one-off accident or aberration.
It is not. It is just the latest in a long pattern of strikes and close calls on humanitarian movements and facilities. https://t.co/MP02csLK6r
— Jeremy Konyndyk is at jeremykonyndyk.bsky.social (@JeremyKonyndyk) April 2, 2024
Israeli president apologises to founder of World Central Kitchen
After an Israeli attack killed seven people working for the World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid group in Gaza, Israeli President Isaac Herzog “expressed his deep sorrow and sincere apologies” during a phone call with the Spanish-American chef and founder of the NGO, Jose Andres.
In a post on X, the Israeli president’s office said Herzog apologised for “the tragic loss of life of WCK staff” and said he sent his “condolences” to their families and loved ones.
“The President reiterated Israel’s commitment to ensuring a thorough investigation of the tragedy,” his office said.
The statement comes following widespread international condemnation of the incident, and after calls for a thorough and transparent probe.
Where are the apologies to the UN and UNWRA for killing their aid workers, the apologies to the press for all their lives lost, the apologies to medical workers killed and mistreated all over Gaza. Fuck of with your apology, sorry not sorry, you belong in jail at the ICC.
Israel’s killing of aid workers comes as Gaza suffers ‘man made famine’
This attack is only the latest by the Israeli army on humanitarian workers and the aid they labour to distribute, and throughout its war on Gaza it has been accused by governments, the UN and major NGOs of deliberately blocking aid at the borders of the besieged enclave.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the deaths World Central Kitchen staff brings the number of aid workers killed in Gaza since October 7 to 196.
A recent feature of Israel’s war has been attacks on Palestinians seeking aid, specifically in north Gaza, which have killed dozens and wounded hundreds, including members of a committee of local tribal officials who were organising the distribution of aid and were in contact with the Israeli army.
Under these harsh restrictions and constant attacks, Gaza is teetering on the brink of famine, and nowhere is the situation more serious than in northern Gaza, according to a recent UN-backed report issued last month by the world’s hunger monitor, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).
As Philippe Lazzarini, director of the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency, puts it, this famine in Gaza is entirely “man made”, and requires “a complete reversal in policies from the Israeli Government”. The consensus of world humanitarian organisations, including Lazzarini’s, is that all of the Gaza Strip’s border crossings need to be opened to allow through the thousands of aid trucks waiting, and an immediate ceasefire is required to prevent what could be the worst humanitarian disaster of this already catastrophic war.
It is a huge challenge to reverse a man made famine in #Gaza in the absence of a political will.
The killing of humanitarian workers yesterday and the denial of @UNRWA to join convoys to the north, including to Al Shifa Hospital today, require a complete reversal in policies…
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) April 2, 2024
UAE pauses aid to Gaza by sea after Israeli strike kills aid workers: Report
The United Arab Emirates is pausing humanitarian aid efforts through a maritime corridor from Cyprus to Gaza pending further safety guarantees from Israel and a full investigation into the deaths of aid workers in Gaza, a UAE official has told Reuters.
The UAE has financed the aid shipments by sea to Gaza and WCK has organised them. A UAE foreign ministry statement condemned the deaths of the aid workers and called for an “urgent, independent and transparent investigation.” The UAE said it holds Israel responsible.
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