By Anadolu staff
JERUSALEM (AA) – The Israeli army said Tuesday it will launch a thorough probe into the death of seven aid workers with the US-based charity World Central Kitchen (WCK) in the central Gaza Strip.
Six foreigners were among the victims when their convoy was hit as it was leaving its Deir al-Balah warehouse after unloading more than 100 tons of humanitarian food aid brought to Gaza by sea, WCK said.
“As a professional military committed to international law, we are committed to examining our operations thoroughly and transparently,” military spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a statement.
Hagari said he spoke to WCK founder Chef Jose Anders to express his condolences over the incident.
“We have been reviewing the incident at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of what happened and how it happened,” he said.
"We will get to the bottom of this and we will share our findings transparently," Hagari added.
The seven charity workers killed were nationals of Australia, Poland, the UK, and Palestine, as well as a US-Canada dual citizen.
Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border attack by Hamas which killed some 1,200 people.
More than 32,900 Palestinians have since been killed and 75,500 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities. Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.
The Israeli war, now in its 179th day, has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which on Thursday asked Israel to do more to prevent famine in Gaza.
*Writing by Ahmed Asmar