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World Central Kitchen NGO vehicle destroyed in Israeli airstrike

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Mohammed Saber / EPA

Seven employees of the aid organization World Central Kitchen (WCK) were killed in an airstrike in the Gaza Strip. Now Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has admitted an "inadvertent" attack on the humanitarian aid workers.

“This is what happens in times of war,” Netanyahu said in a video message. The incident will be thoroughly investigated. Israel is also in contact with the governments of the countries from which some of the dead came. "We... will do everything we can to make sure something like this doesn't happen again."

"Last night's tragic incident was the result of an IDF strike and we are investigating the circumstances," the Israeli military said in a statement. The incident took place in the center of the Gaza Strip, in Deir al-Balah.

NGO calls incident “unforgivable”

In addition to aid workers from Australia, Great Britain and Poland, a Palestinian employee and a person with US-Canadian citizenship were also killed in the military strike. According to the aid organization, a convoy was hit even though the vehicles had a WCK logo and the planned trips were coordinated with the Israeli military. The aid organization describes the incident as “unforgivable.”

"The Israeli government must stop this indiscriminate killing," wrote the organization's founder, the US-based Spanish celebrity chef José Andrés, on the X platform (formerly Twitter) early Tuesday morning.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese previously confirmed the death of an Australian aid worker and strongly condemned the attack. "This is a tragedy that should never have happened," Australian media quoted Albanese as saying on Tuesday. His government contacted the Israeli government directly about the incident.

EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen expressed her condolences to the families of the victims. "I pay tribute to the aid workers who lost their lives in Gaza," she wrote on the provision of food via the maritime corridor.

EU Council President Charles Michel called for an investigation into what happened and for the perpetrators to be held accountable. "It is long overdue to end the slaughter of innocent civilians and humanitarian workers," he wrote on X.

WCK says it served more than 42 million meals in the Gaza Strip in 175 days. The organization also sent a ship with relief supplies from Cyprus to the Gaza Strip in mid-March. The mission was considered a pilot project to improve supplies for more than two million people in the Gaza Strip, who are currently lacking virtually everything because of the war.

czl/AP/AFP/Reuters