WASHINGTON – More than two months after an Israeli airstrike killed seven World Center Kitchen aid workers in Gaza, the Biden administration has yet to release an initial assessment. investigation He determined that the incident was a “serious mistake” by Israel.
White House officials have said privately for weeks that they are waiting for Israel to provide “key information” about the April holiday, without which they cannot complete the investigation. A meeting with Israeli officials on additional details requested by the United States is expected to take place in the next few weeks, according to two US officials familiar with the discussions, but no date has been set.
“We continue to be in contact with the Israeli government on this,” one official told NBC News.
Israel Defense Forces released information initial assessment a few days later April 1 holiday he found that the attack “should not have happened” and said those who confirmed the action were “sure they were targeting armed Hamas operatives and not WCK staff”. The IDF continues to investigate what happened and will submit a further investigation for the investigation, the IDF statement said.
The Biden administration’s delay in assessing Israel’s investigation into the WCK attack comes as the U.S. again deferred to Israel over another deadly incident in Gaza — an airstrike late last month that killed dozens of Palestinian civilians in a tent camp in Rafah. .
“Let’s see what the investigation turns out to be,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters at the time. The White House did not say how long the investigation will last.
After the strike of WCK aid workers, the group made a call independent inquiry to a fatal attack.
“We demand the establishment of an independent commission to investigate the murders of our WCK colleagues,” WCK said in a statement on April 5. “IDF Can’t Credibly Investigate Its Failure in Gaza”.
The Biden administration has not supported an independent investigation, with officials instead saying its own assessment of Israel’s probe needs to be completed first. Administration officials were quick to point out that Israel has made some adjustments to its operational rules based on the results of its investigation into the WCK strike.
State Department spokesman Matt Miller said last month that “Israel conducted an investigation and made those findings public and then made changes in response to those findings, which we felt was very important.”
After April Fools’ Day, President Joe Biden threatened to condition support for Israel unless it took concrete steps to better protect aid workers and innocent civilians. He conveyed this message in a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during which Biden announced that “US policy on Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action in these steps.”
Jacob Flickinger, one of seven WCK employees killed in the April 1 attack, is a dual American and Canadian citizen. The others were from Britain, Australia and Poland, along with a Palestinian driver. Biden said at the time “angry” with their deaths.
This week, WCK founder Jose Andres was honored for his humanitarian efforts at the Washington D.C. Gala to raise money for the United Nations refugee agency, where he made an emotional call for a cease-fire in Gaza.
Andres choked as he called out the names of his 7 colleagues who died during the attack. He noted that the aid group was the first in Israel to respond with food for survivors of the October 7 Hamas attack and is working in Gaza to help victims of the ongoing war.
After his remarks, Andres told NBC News that the number of aid vehicles arriving in Gaza is only a fraction of what is needed.
In a speech in March, Biden promised that the US military would build a temporary bridge along the Gaza Strip to deliver more humanitarian aid to the Palestinians. The pallets were moved ashore for several weeks last month, putting the project on hold.
The pier was reconnected to the beach in Gaza on Friday, and the Biden administration expects aid deliveries to resume in the coming days, US Central Command said. The goal, administration officials said, would initially be to move 500,000 pounds a day over the beach and then increase that amount over time.
Courtney Kube contributed.