Germany, Poland Say Israel Must Investigate Strike On Aid Workers

People gather around the remains of a car used by US-based aid group World Central Kitchen, that was hit by an Israeli strike the previous day in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on April 2, 2024. (AFP)
People gather around the remains of a car used by US-based aid group World Central Kitchen, that was hit by an Israeli strike the previous day in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on April 2, 2024. (AFP)
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Germany, Poland Say Israel Must Investigate Strike On Aid Workers

People gather around the remains of a car used by US-based aid group World Central Kitchen, that was hit by an Israeli strike the previous day in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on April 2, 2024. (AFP)
People gather around the remains of a car used by US-based aid group World Central Kitchen, that was hit by an Israeli strike the previous day in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on April 2, 2024. (AFP)

Germany on Tuesday urged Israel to carry out a full probe into a strike in the Gaza Strip that killed seven staff from US-based charity World Central Kitchen.

"The Israeli government must investigate this terrible incident quickly and thoroughly," Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Also, Poland's deputy foreign minister Andrzej Szejna said that Israel should "compensate" the families of the seven aid workers, including a Polish citizen, killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza.

"The authorities should think about who should be held criminally responsible for pressing a certain button and how to compensate the families of the victims -- even if it's impossible to do so with money," Szejna told Radio Zet.

Israel's army acknowledged on Wednesday it committed a "grave mistake" when it killed seven aid workers from the US charity in an airstrike in Gaza.

"This incident was a grave mistake," Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said in a video message posted on social media platform X.

He blamed "a misidentification -- at night during a war in very complex conditions".

"It shouldn't have happened," he added.

Seven staff from US-based food aid charity World Central Kitchen (WCK) were killed when a strike hit their convoy in the Gazan town of Deir al-Balah on Monday.

According to the organization, those killed included Australian, British, Palestinian, Polish and US-Canadian staff.

Since the start of the war, the NGO has been involved in humanitarian operations in Gaza, and was one of two groups spearheading efforts to deliver food aid arriving by sea from Cyprus.

The group said it was suspending its operations in the region following the strike.



Manchester Bombing Survivors Awarded Damages for Harassment by Conspiracy Theorist

Martin Hibbert, who was paralysed in the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017, speaks to media outside the Royal Courts of Justice after the trial of his lawsuit against Richard D. Hall for alleged harassment, in London, Britain July 25, 2024. REUTERS/Sam Tobin/File Photo
Martin Hibbert, who was paralysed in the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017, speaks to media outside the Royal Courts of Justice after the trial of his lawsuit against Richard D. Hall for alleged harassment, in London, Britain July 25, 2024. REUTERS/Sam Tobin/File Photo
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Manchester Bombing Survivors Awarded Damages for Harassment by Conspiracy Theorist

Martin Hibbert, who was paralysed in the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017, speaks to media outside the Royal Courts of Justice after the trial of his lawsuit against Richard D. Hall for alleged harassment, in London, Britain July 25, 2024. REUTERS/Sam Tobin/File Photo
Martin Hibbert, who was paralysed in the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017, speaks to media outside the Royal Courts of Justice after the trial of his lawsuit against Richard D. Hall for alleged harassment, in London, Britain July 25, 2024. REUTERS/Sam Tobin/File Photo

Two survivors of a bombing that killed 22 people at the close of an Ariana Grande concert seven years ago were on Friday awarded 45,000 pounds ($58,184) in damages after successfully suing a conspiracy theorist who claimed the attack was staged.

Martin Hibbert was paralysed from the waist down and his daughter Eve, then 14, suffered a catastrophic brain injury in the bombing at Manchester Arena in northern England in 2017, Reuters reported.

They sued Richard Hall – a self-styled journalist who claimed without evidence that the attack was orchestrated by British government agencies – for harassment.

Their case bears some similarities to defamation lawsuits brought against US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones by relatives of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting.

Judge Karen Steyn ruled last month that Hall's conduct in publishing a book and videos about the Manchester Arena bombing and filming Eve Hibbert and her mother outside their house in 2019 amounted to harassment.

The judge awarded Martin and Eve Hibbert a total of 45,000 pounds following a further hearing on Friday, British media reported.