US says it wants swift Israeli investigation into attack on aid workers

PHOTO CAPTION: People carry the body of one of the foreign workers from the World Central Kitchen (WCK), who were killed in an Israeli airstrike, before they are transported to their families outside Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip April 3, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

By Humeyra Pamuk and Daphne Psaledakis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States wants a swift Israeli investigation into an attack that killed seven people working for celebrity chef Jose Andres' World Central Kitchen charity in Gaza, the State Department said on Wednesday.

Israel needs to put in place better deconfliction and coordination measures to protect humanitarian workers and protect all civilians on the ground, spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters at a regular news briefing.

"It doesn't really matter how they made the mistake. At the end of the day, you have seven dead aid workers who were there trying to deliver humanitarian assistance. So whatever the reason was that led to this tragedy, whatever the mistake that happened inside the IDF, it's unacceptable, and they need to do better," Miller said.

The aid workers were killed when their convoy was hit shortly after they oversaw the unloading of 100 tons of food brought to Gaza by sea.

Israel's military expressed "severe sorrow" over the incident and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it unintentional. The military has said an independent, professional expert body will investigate the deaths.

Miller also referred to a video by Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi who said the attack took place as a mistake that followed a "misidentification".

"I took that to mean while they were targeting those cars, they did not believe that it was a World Central Kitchen that was operating those vehicles at the time. But that said, we need to wait and see the outcome of this investigation," he added.

Andres told Reuters on Wednesday that the Israeli attack that killed the aid workers had targeted them "systematically, car by car."

Andres said the charity had clear communication with the Israeli military, which he said knew his aid workers' movements.

Miller said the attack would not affect U.S. efforts to prepare a floating pier to facilitate aid to Gaza by sea.

Nearly six months of war have created critical food shortages among Gaza's 2.3 million Palestinians that in some areas now exceed famine levels, the United Nations says.

(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Ismail Shakil and Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Chris Reese and Alison Williams)