Photo: Said Khatib Agence France-Presse The remains of six Westerners who were killed along with a Palestinian humanitarian arrived in Egypt on Wednesday evening.
April 3, 2024
The bodies of six foreign aid workers killed in an Israeli strike arrived in Egypt on Wednesday for repatriation to their respective countries, with Israel calling the strike a “grave mistake.”
The strike, which sparked a wave of international criticism, comes after nearly six months of a devastating war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, sparked by the Palestinian Islamist movement's unprecedented attack in Israel on October 7 .
She killed Monday in Deir al-Balah (center) seven members of World Central Kitchen (WCK, based in the United States) who had just unloaded “more than 100 tons of food brought to Gaza by road maritime”, according to the NGO.
The remains of the six Westerners (an Australian, a Pole, an American-Canadian and three British), who were killed with a Palestinian humanitarian, arrived in Egypt on Wednesday evening, Egyptian security sources announced. They were handed over to representatives of their countries for repatriation.
It is “a serious error” which “should not have happened”, admitted the chief of the Israeli general staff Herzi Halevi, referring to “a bad identification” in “conditions very complex.”
The day before, Israeli President Isaac Herzog had presented his “apologies”, his Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referring to a “tragic” strike.
WCK announced that it would suspend its operations in the region.
The NGO which said it was “devastated” by the deaths of its collaborators had, since October 7, provided meals in the Palestinian territory, where the majority of the approximately 2.4 million inhabitants are threatened with famine according to the UN.
In mid-March, she participated in sending the first aid boat from Cyprus to Gaza.
On Wednesday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressed his “anger and concern” to his Israeli counterpart, as Poland announced it was summoning the Israeli ambassador to discuss “moral, political and financial accountability”. of Israel.
The day before, the United Kingdom had announced that it would summon the Israeli ambassador to express its “unequivocal condemnation” of the Israeli strike.
The UN, for its part, denounced a “disregard for international humanitarian law” and its workers, American President Joe Biden said he was “outraged”, believing that Israel does not protect “enough » people helping the “starving” Palestinian population.
The Israeli strike against the seven members of World Central Kitchen “has the characteristics of a precision airstrike, indicating that the Israeli army intended to strike these vehicles,” asserted Richard Weir of the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW), quoted in a press release.
Since the start of the war, 196 humanitarian workers have been killed, including 175 from the UN, according to its secretary general, Antonio Guterres.
On October 7, Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza carried out an attack in southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of at least 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data.
According to Israel, more than 250 people have been kidnapped and 130 of them are still hostages, including 34 dead, in Gaza.
In retaliation, Israel promised to annihilate Hamas and launched an aerial bombardment campaign on the Gaza Strip, followed by a ground offensive that allowed its soldiers to advance from north to south of the small strip of land.
At least 32,975 people, mostly civilians, were killed in Israeli operations, according to Hamas, reporting 59 deaths in 24 hours on Wednesday.
In addition to the human toll and destruction, the war has caused a humanitarian catastrophe in the besieged territory where humanitarian aid, strictly controlled by Israel, is trickling in.
A maritime corridor as well as aid airdrops have been set up due to the difficulty of bringing in food by land but many countries and humanitarian organizations consider that the land route is the most capable of allowing the delivery of the enormous aid that the population needs.
In Gaza, AFP images show cohorts of men walking through rubble along a road where gutted buildings and closed stores follow one another. “We suffer to bring back flour and feed our young children,” a man told AFPTV in Gaza City, where he has just received food aid.
In this context, the UN Human Rights Council will examine on Friday a draft resolution condemning “Israel's use of explosive weapons with a wide range of action” in areas populated Gaza and calling for an arms embargo on Israel. The text mentions “the plausible risk of genocide in Gaza”.
After a vast two-week operation in the al-Chifa hospital complex in Gaza City, the Israeli army indicated on Tuesday that it was continuing its operations in the city of Khan Younes (south), particularly in the area of the Al hospital. -Amal, which had to cease its activities a week ago due to Israeli operations.
She accuses hospitals of hosting Hamas bases, considered a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and the European Union.
On the front of negotiations around a truce project, Hamas leader Ismaïl Haniyeh on Wednesday accused Israel of procrastinating. On Tuesday, the Israeli prime minister's office said its team of negotiators had returned from a new round of negotiations in Cairo. An assertion denied by a Hamas leader.
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