Thursday will be the first telephone conversation between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu since an Israeli attack on a humanitarian convoy in Gaza killed seven workers.
According to the news agency AFP, Joe Biden has expressed outrage over the attack on the employees of the US-based World Central Kitchen, who were distributing much-needed food to the citizens of Gaza, who are on the brink of famine.
A US official told AFP on Wednesday: ‘I can confirm that President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu will speak tomorrow.’
The information about the phone came as Biden said he was “outraged and heartbroken” by the deadly attack, which killed one American and Canadian citizen, three Britons, one Polish, one An Australian and a Palestinian citizen died.
Biden’s increasingly critical language and calls for Israel to do more to protect aid workers and civilians reflect growing frustration with how Israel is handling its conflict with Hamas.
Israel has claimed responsibility for the attack on the aid workers, calling it a mistake, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has instructed the armed forces to ‘maintain open and transparent communication with international aid organizations.’
World Central Kitchen says it informed Israeli forces of its movements. In this regard, US President Joe Biden has emphasized that the attack in which World Central Kitchen brand vehicles were targeted is not a ‘first incident’.
At least 196 aid workers have been killed in the nearly six-month-old Israeli offensive in Gaza, three times more than any other conflict in a year, according to a UN coordinator.
John Kirby, a spokesman for the US National Security Council, told reporters that the attack was “symptomatic of a larger problem and evidence of why it is so difficult to get aid into Gaza.”
However, the White House says Biden continues to support Israel’s “right to self-defense” and has no plans to cut off arms supplies to a key US ally.
Monday’s deaths raise the question of how to safely continue deliveries as Gaza faces a severe food crisis and children are reportedly starving.
The World Central Kitchen, which described the attack as ‘targeted’, has suspended its operations in the region and sent ships laden with hundreds of tonnes of undelivered goods back to Mediterranean ports.
This section contains related reference points (Related Nodes field).
Other groups have since scaled back or reassessed their activities. The United Nations has suspended overnight movement on Tuesday to ‘assess security concerns’.
The International Committee of the Red Cross says that ‘humanitarian aid organizations are unable to carry out their work safely.’
The threat to Gaza’s aid lifeline comes at a time when all 2.4 million of its people are struggling to get enough food and famine is imminent in the north.
The latest offensive began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacks on Israeli territories killed around 1,170 people, and since then Israel has launched a series of ground and air strikes on Gaza.
Hamas also captured more than 250 people on October 7, and 130 people are still in Gaza, 34 of whom the Israeli military believes have been killed.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, at least 33,000 people have died in Israel’s aggression, most of them women and children.
Meanwhile, the UN Human Rights Council will consider a draft resolution on Friday calling for an end to arms sales to Israel.
The draft has the support of 18 states and would need 24 votes for a majority in the 47-nation council.
#Contact #Joe #Biden #Netanyahu #expected #attack #aid #workers
2024-04-24 08:14:12
