Killing aid workers was a ‘grave mistake’
GAZA: war, the US-based charity had been involved in feeding displaced Gazans, and was one of two organisations spearheading the delivery of food aid arriving by sea.
The employees killed on Monday had just unloaded
“more than 100 tonnes of humanitarian food aid brought to Gaza on the maritime route,” WCK said.
The attack, which killed Australian, British, Palestinian, Polish and US-Canadian staff, was widely condemned, with world leaders demanding an investigation.
In a strongly worded statement, US President Joe Biden said Israel “has not done enough to protect aid workers trying to deliver desperately needed help to civilians.”
He called for a “swift” investigation to bring accountability to what he said was not a “stand alone incident”.
UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres told the General Assembly that 196 humanitarian workers have been killed in the war. He called the strike “unconscionable” but “an inevitable result of the way the war is being conducted”.
“It demonstrates yet again the urgent need for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.”
4 injured in attack
In a separate incident, four Israeli police were injured in a carramming attack at a checkpoint in the centre of the country, police said on Wednesday, adding that the assailant was killed after trying to stab other security forces.
The 26-year-old attacker crashed into four police officers at a checkpoint in the town of Kochav Yair, which borders the occupied West Bank and sits northeast of Tel Aviv. The officers suffered minor injuries and were taken to hospital, Israeli police said in a statement.
The assailant was headed towards the Eliyahu Crossing between Israel and the occupied West Bank “where he attempted to stab security agents, who neutralised him,” the statement said, adding that he died at the scene.
The incident took place against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, which was triggered by the Palestinian militants’ attack on Israel on October 7.