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Israeli strike on aid convoy prompts international condemnation
Insights from Haaretz, Jeremy Konyndyk, Vox, and Politico
The News
Israel’s allies criticized the nation’s strike on an aid convoy this week that killed seven foreign workers. Three vehicles traveling with a convoy from World Central Kitchen, an aid organization that has played a crucial role in moving food into Gaza, were hit by successive drone missiles Monday.
U.S. President Joe Biden said he was “outraged and heartbroken” by the incident and called for a public investigation by the Israel Defense Forces. He also criticized Israel for not doing more to curb civilian casualties over the course of its war against Hamas.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday that the situation in Gaza was “increasingly intolerable,” and echoed Biden’s calls for a public inquiry. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have also called for Israel to take accountability for the incident, with Albanese expressing his “anger and concern” to Netanyahu in a phone call Tuesday.
SIGNALS
Strike poses issue for IDF legitimacy
Trucks traveling with the convoy were clearly marked as belonging to WCK along a route pre-approved by the IDF, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. Members of a team delegated to ensure the convoy’s safety on its journey reportedly identified an armed man they suspected to be a Hamas militant at the aid organization’s warehouse, though the man never left the warehouse, sources that spoke to Haaretz said. The attacks have prompted frustration amongst defense officials: One source told the paper that while some units are working to correctly identify threats to the army, “in the end the units in the field decide to launch attacks without any preparation, in cases that have nothing to do with protecting our forces.” The result is waning patience amongst Western allies, Haaretz correspondent Amos Harel argued. “If Israel had hoped that its control over the entry of [aid] shipments would serve as a means of pressure for the release of the hostages held by Hamas, it has lost this card,” he wrote.
Questions swirl about Israel’s explanation that strike was accidental
Workers with international aid organizations have questioned the IDF narrative that the strike was carried out accidentally. On social media platform X, Refugees International President Jeremy Konyndyk argued that “you don’t strike a deconflicted convoy repeatedly, hitting three vehicles in succession over the course of a kilometer of road, by accident.” The issue, he said, was the IDF’s culture which “treats Gaza as a free fire zone with total impunity for gross attacks on civilians.” This is not the only attack on humanitarian workers in Gaza, and “this strike is emblematic of a larger pattern in Gaza,” Nicole Narea noted in Vox. In addition to the seven WCK staff, five workers with Doctors Without Borders and 14 employees of the Palestinian Red Crescent have been killed.
Strike has potential to change tone of US policymakers
World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés — a dual Spanish-U.S. citizen — is well known in Washington, D.C., where he runs multiple restaurants, Politico noted. The attack on his organization will resonate in Washington in part due to Andrés’ notoriety, and because the strike marks the first time an American is known to have been killed by Israel in the conflict. An official with the Biden administration that spoke with Politico’s NatSec newsletter said the strike “underscores Israeli carelessness toward Gaza civilians and international humanitarians alike.”
