Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Tuesday that an airstrike by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) mistakenly hit the World Central Kitchen, a food charity started by celebrity chef Jose Andres, killing seven food aid workers in Gaza.
Israel deeply regrets the tragic incident which claimed the lives of seven humanitarian aid workers.
Our hearts go out to their families and to their home countries.
The IDF is conducting a swift and transparent investigation and we will make our findings public.
Israel…
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) April 2, 2024
“Unfortunately over the last day there was a tragic incident of an unintended strike of our forces on innocent people in the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu said in a video posted to X, formerly Twitter.
He assured viewers that officials are investigating the incident to take measures that will ensure it does not happen again.
The prime minister posted the announcement from the hospital because he had just undergone a hernia operation earlier in the day. “Released from Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital. Thanks to the doctors for the treatment and to you for the prayers and support,” the prime minister captioned the video in Hebrew.
משתחרר מבית החולים הדסה עין כרם. תודה לרופאים על הטיפול ולכם על התפילות והתמיכה. pic.twitter.com/mhUdAXIzFY
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) April 2, 2024
World Central Kitchen said it is “pausing our operations immediately in the region” and “will be making decisions about the future of our work soon.”
Netanyahu explained that civilian casualties in war zones as a result of unintended fire are a tragedy and part of the collateral damage of warfare.
But one of the commenters replying to Netanyahu’s post reminded the rest of the thread viewers what the stakes are for Israel in this conflict.
להתחיל את הסרטון ב'אני משתחרר' כשבמנהרות החמאס יש עדיין 134 חטופים ישראלים, אפעס, בחירת מילים לא הכי מוצלחת…
— איציק אלרוב | Itzik Elrov 🇮🇱 (@itzikelrov) April 2, 2024
Commenting in Hebrew, the replier said, “To start the video with ‘I’m released’ when there are still 134 Israeli hostages in the Hamas tunnels, oops, not the best choice of words.”
At the end of March, Israel’s government reported that 130 hostages that were abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7 last year remain in captivity, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. But at least 34 of those are reportedly dead and Israel is waiting to recover their bodies.
A month ago, the prime minister said that enough of the then 132 remaining hostages were still alive to justify Israel’s continued war with Hamas terrorists in the Palestinian city of Gaza.
“We’re going to try to do our best to get all those who are alive back and, frankly, also the bodies of the dead,” Netanyahu told ABC’s “This Week” program in an interview.
