“This incident was a serious error,” said the head of the Israeli General Staff, General Herzi Halevi, in a video message.
“It was an error that followed an identification error at night, during a war, in very complex conditions. This should not have happened,” he added.
Halevi also stressed that the IDF shares “from the bottom of its heart” the “grief of the families [das vítimas] and the entire WCK organization.”
“An independent body will investigate the event in depth and will communicate its conclusions in the coming days”, he also announced.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted this Tuesday that the Israeli Army “unintentionally” killed seven humanitarian workers from the WCK organization and said that the incident will be the subject of an exhaustive investigation.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog apologized for the deaths and extended his condolences “to the families and loved ones” of the humanitarian workers.
The institution, created by ‘chef’ José Andrés, is one of two NGOs actively involved in delivering aid to Gaza by sea from Cyprus.
WCK described that one of its vehicles was attacked by the Israeli army while passing through Deir al Balah, in the center of the Gaza Strip, after leaving a warehouse where they had unloaded 100 tons of food, in a movement coordinated with the Israeli authorities.
The attack against humanitarian workers has already been condemned by the European Union and several countries, including the United Kingdom, Spain and Belgium, which demanded explanations from Israel for the death of seven humanitarian workers.
The United States called on Tel Aviv for a “swift, thorough and impartial investigation.”
Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, stressed that the death of the seven humanitarian workers “is an inevitable result of the way this war is being conducted”.
According to Dujarric, at least 196 aid workers have been killed since October in the occupied Palestinian territories, in what he considered “one of the most dangerous and difficult workplaces in the world.”
On October 7 last year, fighters from Hamas — in power in the Gaza Strip since 2007 and classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Israel — carried out an attack on Israeli territory of unprecedented proportions since its creation. of the State of Israel in 1948, leaving 1,163 dead, mostly civilians, and 250 hostages, around 130 of whom remain in captivity and 34 have since died, according to the most recent report by Israeli authorities.
In retaliation, Israel declared a war to eradicate Hamas, which began with cuts to food, water, electricity and fuel supplies in the Gaza Strip and daily bombings, followed by a ground offensive in the north of the territory, which then extended to the south. , with an offensive on the southern city of Rafah now imminent, where more than a million displaced people are concentrated.
The war between Israel and Hamas, which today entered its 180th day and continues to threaten to spread throughout the Middle East region, has so far left at least 32,916 people dead in the Gaza Strip, more than 74,000 injured and around 7,000 missing. presumably buried in the rubble, most of them civilians, according to the latest assessment by local authorities.
