Blinken: US Urging Israel to Investigate Airstrike That Killed World Central Kitchen Workers

People stand near a destroyed car of the NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK) along Al Rashid road, between Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, 02 April 2024. (EPA)
People stand near a destroyed car of the NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK) along Al Rashid road, between Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, 02 April 2024. (EPA)
TT

Blinken: US Urging Israel to Investigate Airstrike That Killed World Central Kitchen Workers

People stand near a destroyed car of the NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK) along Al Rashid road, between Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, 02 April 2024. (EPA)
People stand near a destroyed car of the NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK) along Al Rashid road, between Deir Al-Balah and Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, 02 April 2024. (EPA)

Washington has urged Israel to conduct a swift, thorough and impartial investigation into an Israeli airstrike that killed seven aid workers with the World Central Kitchen charity in Gaza, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday.

Blinken arrived in Paris for talks with senior officials including President Emmanuel Macron hours after the Washington-based NGO was struck by an Israeli airstrike in central Gaza, adding pressure on Washington to toughen its stance in the war between Israel and Hamas.

"We've spoken directly to the Israeli government about this particular incident. We've urged a swift, a thorough and impartial investigation," Blinken told reporters at a press conference in Paris, adding that humanitarian workers have to be protected.

"These people are heroes, they run into the fire, not away from it," he said of the NGO workers killed in the strike. "We shouldn't have a situation where people who are simply trying to help their fellow human beings are themselves at grave risk."

But Blinken stopped short of directly condemning the attack, unlike his French counterpart Stephane Sejourne.

Speaking alongside Blinken, Sejourne voiced France's "firm condemnation" of the Israeli airstrike.

"Nothing can justify such a tragedy," he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the airstrike was unintended and tragic, and the military pledged an independent inquiry.

Biden faces pressure from foreign partners, human rights groups and some of his fellow Democrats in Congress to impose conditions on arms transfers to rein in Israel’s offensive in Hamas-ruled Gaza where health officials say more than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed, many of them civilians.

"The killing of these employees – and so many UN and other aid workers – is unacceptable. Enough is enough. There must be an immediate and independent investigation," Democratic US Senator Chris Van Hollen said.

Hours before the Israeli strike on WCK workers on Monday, Reuters reported that the Biden administration was considering proceeding with an $18 billion arms transfer package to Israel.

Asked if incidents like the killing of WCK workers made the United States think twice about its "flood of weapons" to Israel, Blinken did not address the specific question but said all US arms transfers happened consistent to policy requirements.

"From Day One, we have worked to impress upon Israel, the imperative of protecting civilians, of adhering fully to international humanitarian law, to the law of armed conflict. That is something that we are looking at and review on a regular basis," he added.

CRITICAL MOMENT IN UKRAINE

Blinken was due to hold talks with Macron later in the day.

"You can sense the Americans are a bit uncomfortable at the moment," said one French diplomat, pointing to the contrast between Washington's humanitarian efforts in Gaza and its supply of weapons to Israel.

Earlier in the day, Blinken said Ukraine was at a critical moment in its war with Russia and urgently needs more Western support, bemoaning the stalemate in Congress over a multibillion-dollar military package for Kyiv.

"It is absolutely essential to get Ukrainians what they continue to need to defend themselves, particularly when it comes to munitions and air defenses," he told reporters.

"It's another reason why the supplementary budget request that President (Joe) Biden has made to (the US) Congress must be fulfilled as quickly as possible."

Biden has urged the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives to endorse the military and financial aid package, but House Speaker Mike Johnson has held up the matter for months, citing domestic priorities.



US Defers Removal of Some Lebanese, Citing Israel-Hezbollah Tensions

Smoke billows from a site targeted by Lebanon's Hezbollah, along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon on July 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)
Smoke billows from a site targeted by Lebanon's Hezbollah, along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon on July 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)
TT

US Defers Removal of Some Lebanese, Citing Israel-Hezbollah Tensions

Smoke billows from a site targeted by Lebanon's Hezbollah, along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon on July 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)
Smoke billows from a site targeted by Lebanon's Hezbollah, along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon on July 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)

The United States is deferring the removal of certain Lebanese citizens from the country, President Joe Biden said on Friday, citing humanitarian conditions in southern Lebanon amid tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.

The deferred designation, which lasts 18 months, allows Lebanese citizens to remain in the country with the right to work, according to a memorandum Biden sent to the Department of Homeland Security.

"Humanitarian conditions in southern Lebanon have significantly deteriorated due to tensions between Hezbollah and Israel," Biden said in the memo.

"While I remain focused on de-escalating the situation and improving humanitarian conditions, many civilians remain in danger; therefore, I am directing the deferral of removal of certain Lebanese nationals who are present in the United States."

Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have been trading fire since Hezbollah announced a "support front" with Palestinians shortly after its ally Hamas attacked southern Israeli border communities on Oct. 7, triggering Israel's military assault in Gaza.

The fighting in Lebanon has killed more than 100 civilians and more than 300 Hezbollah fighters, according to a Reuters tally, and led to levels of destruction in Lebanese border towns and villages not seen since the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war.

On the Israeli side, 10 Israeli civilians, a foreign agricultural worker and 20 Israeli soldiers have been killed. Tens of thousands have been evacuated from both sides of the border.