Closing Summary
Hello again, global live blog readers, it’s around 9.30pm in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. We are closing this blog now, thanks for following our coverage of the news in the Middle East as it happens. Our latest report on the killing of seven humanitarian aid workers by the Israeli military can be read here.
Here’s where the day stands:
Joe Biden is conveying his condolences to the World Central Kitchen staff killed in Gaza by the Israeli military on Monday night and the White House has expressed that the administration is “outraged” over the tragic killing of the workers by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
US secretary of state Antony Blinken has called the World Central Kitchen humanitarian workers killed in Gaza “heroes.” Blinken is in Paris, meeting with government ministers in the French capital, and took part in a press conference after a meeting at the ministry of foreign affairs. He has called for “a swift, a thorough and impartial investigation.”
The killing of seven humanitarian workers with the international aid organization World Central Kitchen has been summed up by United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric as “the inevitable result of the way this war is being conducted.”
Israel’s prime minister has admitted Israeli forces killed seven humanitarian aid workers in Gaza in an airstrike yesterday. Saying “This happens in wartime,” Benjamin Netanyahu described it as “a tragic case of our forces unintentionally hitting innocent people in the Gaza Strip.”
Three of the seven people killed were British nationals. The UK summoned the Israeli ambassador in London saying Israel must “put in place an effective deconfliction mechanism immediately and urgently to scale up humanitarian access”. The UK’s foreign secretary David Cameron said the deaths were “completely unacceptable”.
The group had been travelling in two armoured vehicles branded with the World Central Kitchen (WCK) charity’s logo. WCK said those killed were from the UK, Australia, Poland and Palestine, as well as a US-Canada dual citizen. The charity said it was suspending operations in the Palestinian territory.
US president Joe Biden’s administration said it had been in touch with José Andrés, who founded WCK. Secretary of state Antony Blinken said the US had also spoken directly to the Israeli government about the issue. He told the media “We’ve urged a swift, a thorough and impartial investigation to understand exactly what happened.”
France’s foreign minister Stéphane Séjourné on Tuesday said his country “strongly condemned” the Israeli airstrike, which “nothing can justify”.
Israel has said it plans to open a joint situation room with international groups to enable the coordination of humanitarian aid. WCK on Monday said in its statement about the attack that “Despite coordinating movements with the IDF, the convoy was hit as it was leaving the Deir al-Balah warehouse.”
Cyprus said on Tuesday afternoon that ships that recently arrived in Gaza were turning back with 240 tonnes of undelivered aid. “At least two-thirds of the assistance is on its way back,” Cyprus’s foreign minister spokesperson, Theodoros Gotsis, told the Guardian.
UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric has said that the organisation’s secretary-general António Guterres condemns an attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, calling for “utmost restraint”. The attack, which killed at least 11 people, including a senior commander in the al-Quds force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), has been widely attributed to Israel. Turkey said the attack was a violation of international law by Israel. Iran’s leaders in Tehran described the targeting of a diplomatic mission late on Monday as unprecedented and promised a harsh response.
Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant said Israel would “act everywhere, every day to prevent the force buildup of our enemies. We are in a multi-front war, in the offence and defence. We see evidence of this every day, including in recent days”. He said Israel was acting “to make it clear to everyone who acts against us, all over the Middle East, that the price for acting against Israel will be a heavy price.”
Israel’s delegation will return from Cairo having formulated a new proposal for a ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas, according to reports.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said the destruction of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza amounted to “ripping the heart out” of the health system of the territory.
Over in Cyprus the European Parliament’s visiting president, Roberta Metsola, has said “all resources” must be used to find out how an Israeli airstrike on a humanitarian convoy could ever have occurred.
“We must use all our resources to get answers, to bring in more relief,” said the
The Maltese politician spoke after touring the joint rescue and coordination centre in Larnaca, the Cypriot port that has become the distribution point for aid dispatched via the recently inaugurated maritime route to Gaza.
“Humanitarian organisations like World Central Kitchen must be protected,” he said.
Escorting Metsola, Cypriot president Nikos Christodoulides described the charity as a “crucial partner in sending much-needed assistance” to the Palestinian territory.
“I express our sincere condolences to the WCK and the countries which have lost their citizens, and we call for an immediate and complete investigation,” he said. “The tragic events of last night prove once again that this is not a regional crisis of limited concern or impact. Its effects reverberate across the region.”
Christodoulides said as the closest EU member state to the Middle East, Cyprus had a “moral obligation to ease the suffering of civilians in Gaza” although he stressed the humanitarian sea corridor was not a substitute for aid reaching the besieged coastal strip through land routes or airdrops.
Standing alongside Metsola as he addressed reporters he said:
Your presence here today as president of the European parliament, representing almost 400 million European citizens, is a strong message that Europe and its citizens care deeply about the severely deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, and that they stand behind initiatives to alleviate the crisis.
