 "A Palestinian inspects a vehicle where employees from the World Central Kitchen (WCK), including foreigners, were killed in an Israeli airstrike. Reuters")
Expressing no trust in the Israel government’s probe into the killing of its aid workers in Gaza, the World Central Kitchen (WCK) has demanded an independent investigation into the incident.
The request comes after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) admitted that “grave mistakes” on the part of Israeli troops led to the deaths of seven WCK aid workers in Gaza earlier this week.
WCK’s CEO Erin Gore rejected Tel Aviv’s inquiry into the matter saying the military “cannot credibly investigate its own failure in Gaza”.
“[The IDF’s] apologies for the outrageous killing of our colleagues represent cold comfort. It’s cold comfort for the victims’ families and WCK’s global family,” she added.
Several humanitarian organisations, including WCK, have suspended operations in Gaza in light of the recent attack. Israel has drawn ire from across the world over the attack which it claims was due to an “operational failure.”
‘Israeli inquiry lacks credibility’
An Israeli investigation into the attack, which saw the dismissal of two middle-ranking officials, has been dismissed by WCK which says that the inquiry “lacks credibility.”
José Andrés, founder of WCK, said, “The IDF cannot credibly investigate its own failure in Gaza. It’s not enough to simply try to avoid further humanitarian deaths, which have now approached close to 200. All civilians need to be protected, and all innocent people in Gaza need to be fed and safe. And all hostages must be released.”
Impact Shorts
More ShortsWCK’s remarks were echoed by UN Secretary-General, António Guterres who also demanded an independent probe into the matter, noting that so far, 196 aid workers have been killed during Israel’s military campaign in Gaza since the beginning of the war.
US reviewing inquiry ‘carefully’
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that the US has received a copy of the Israeli probe and is currently “reviewing it carefully.”
Blinken said that the US will be “looking to see not just what steps are being taken, but the results that follow from them.”
Australia to appoint ‘special adviser’
Meanwhile, Australia on Saturday announced that it would appoint a special adviser to work with Israel to ensure “full confidence” in its investigations.
One of the seven workers was an Australian citizen.
“The government will appoint a special adviser who we have requested the Israelis work with so we can be advised about the appropriateness of the process,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a televised media conference in Adelaide.
She added, “We want to have full confidence in the transparency and accountability of any investigation and we will continue to work to achieve that.”
With inputs from agencies