World Central Kitchen (WCK) said the Israeli military’s recent steps are important but called for “systemic change” after seven of the nonprofit’s workers were killed earlier this week.
WCK said the IDF is taking “important steps” for acknowledging its “responsibility and fatal errors” as well as taking “disciplinary action” for those responsible for the Monday attack.
A preliminary investigation carried out by the Israeli Joint Chiefs of Staff found that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) mistakenly thought a convoy carrying the workers, who communicated their movements to the military, were Hamas fighters.
The fatal strike drew international scrutiny and demands for the IDF to change its procedures. The military said it had dismissed two officers and reprimanded three others after finding the strike should not have happened.
The aid organization said it’s unclear from the IDF’s investigation that the “IDF has deployed deadly force without regard to its own protocols, chain of command and rules of engagement.”
“Without systemic change, there will be more military failures, more apologies and more grieving families,” WCK’s statement said.
The Israeli military said Thursday it would approve the opening of a key border crossing in northern Gaza. The government said opening at Erez would increase aid to civilians and “prevent a humanitarian crisis.”
WCK said the “root cause” of the airstrike is the “severe lack of food in Gaza.” Since March, WCK has been delivering several hundred tons of food to civilians in Gaza.
“Israel needs to dramatically increase the volume of food and medicine traveling by land if it is serious about supporting humanitarian aid,” the statement said. “Food is a universal human right.”
The organization demanded that an independent commission investigate the killings because the IDF alone “cannot credibly investigate its own failure in Gaza.” On Thursday, the group asked the U.S., Australia, Canada, Poland and the U.K. – the home countries of its workers who died – to open independent investigations into the incident.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has also called for an “independent, thorough and fully publicized” investigation. He said the U.S. thinks the steps Israel has taken are “positive developments” but the “real test” will be what will come in the next several days and months.
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