U.S. President Joe Biden at the Chavis Community Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S., March 26, 2024. (Photo: Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo/REUTERS)
U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday stated that Israel is refraining from doing enough to safeguard help employees in Gaza, after the unintentional killing of 7 help employees from World Central Kitchen (WCK) in strikes by Israeli forces Monday night.
Biden stated he was “annoyed and sad” at the deaths of the help employees, whom he stated were “brave and generous.”
“I am annoyed and sad by the deaths of 7 humanitarian employees from World Central Kitchen, consisting of one American, in Gaza the other day. They were offering food to starving civilians in the middle of a war. They were brave and generous. Their deaths are a disaster.”
Acknowledging that Israeli authorities have actually required a “comprehensive examination” into the occurrence, Biden stated it “should be quick, it needs to bring responsibility, and its findings should be revealed.”
The U.S. president implicated Israel of recklessness in its conduct throughout Gaza operations.
“Even more unfortunately, this is not a stand-alone occurrence,” the president stated. “This dispute has actually been among the worst in current memory in regards to the number of help employees have actually been eliminated.”
Biden insinuated that the IDF’s actions are instrumental for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
“This is a significant reason that dispersing humanitarian help in Gaza has actually been so challenging– since Israel has actually refrained from doing enough to secure help employees attempting to provide frantically required aid to civilians,” Biden mentioned.
“Incidents like the other day’s merely need to not occur. Israel has likewise refrained from doing enough to safeguard civilians.”
The White House vowed to continue help operations in Gaza while pursuing a ceasefire as part of a captive release offer.
“The United States will continue to do all we can to provide humanitarian help to Palestinian civilians in Gaza, through all offered methods,” Biden continued.
“I will continue to push Israel to do more to help with that help. And we are pressing difficult for an instant ceasefire as part of a captive offer. I have a group in Cairo dealing with this today.”
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant held an evaluation with IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and senior defense authorities on Tuesday to examine the event including the killing of 7 help employees.
Halevi called the occasion a “error of misidentification” that ought to not have actually taken place.
“I wish to be really clear– the strike was not performed with the objective of hurting WCK help employees. It was an error that followed a misidentification– during the night throughout a war in really complicated conditions. It needs to not have actually occurred.”
Gallant explained the event as “a regrettable event that need to be completely examined, lessons found out and executed,” and dedicated to without delay developing a joint operations center of the Southern Command with global help companies in the Gaza Strip to avoid it from occurring once again. In addition, the defense minister advised the IDF to act to “enhance the help circulation systems by assigning proper resources.”
