Biden Uses Aid Tragedy to Blame Israel for Civilian Deaths; Hamas Off the Hook

I am outraged and heartbroken by the deaths of seven humanitarian workers from World Central Kitchen, including one American, in Gaza yesterday. They were providing food to hungry civilians in the middle of a war. They were brave and selfless. Their deaths are a tragedy.

Israel has pledged to conduct a thorough investigation into why the aid workers’ vehicles were hit by airstrikes. That investigation must be swift, it must bring accountability, and its findings must be made public.

Even more tragically, this is not a stand-alone incident. This conflict has been one of the worst in recent memory in terms of how many aid workers have been killed. This is a major reason why distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza has been so difficult – because Israel has not done enough to protect aid workers trying to deliver desperately needed help to civilians. Incidents like yesterday’s simply should not happen. Israel has also not done enough to protect civilians. The United States has repeatedly urged Israel to deconflict their military operations against Hamas with humanitarian operations, in order to avoid civilian casualties.

In 2021, the U.S. military killed ten civilians in Kabul, Afghanistan, in a drone attack. The Biden administration claimed that the strike had been “righteous,” but later admitted that it had made a terrible mistake.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken could not tell Congress at the time whether the person who had been killed — along with seven children — had been a civilian aid worker or a terrorist.

The Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, apologized publicly in a video statement, saying that the airstrike, which hit a World Central Kitchen (WCK) convoy, had been a case of mistaken identity.