Israeli media says the World Central Kitchen aid team was intentionally targeted with three missiles, as an UN expert says the strike shows Israel aims to force aid organizations out of Gaza.
Casualties
- 32,975 + killed* and at least 75,5577 wounded in the Gaza Strip.
- 453+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.**
- Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,139.
- 600 Israeli soldiers have been killed since October 7, and at least 6,800 injured.***
*Gaza’s Ministry of Health confirmed this figure on its Telegram channel. Some rights groups estimate the death toll to be much higher when accounting for those presumed dead.
** The death toll in the West Bank and Jerusalem is not updated regularly. According to the PA’s Ministry of Health on March 17, this is the latest figure.
*** This figure is released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.”
Key Developments
- Israel kills 59 Palestinians and wounds 83 in the Gaza Strip in 5 massacres against families, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
- Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu says that Wednesday’s strike killing seven international WCK aid workers was “a mistake.”
- U.S. President Biden demands Israel says that Israel’s investigation into the killing of aid workers “must be swift, must bring accountability, and its findings must be made public.” Human Rights Watch chief calls Biden’s remarks “empty words.”
- UN: At least 195 international aid workers, including 175 UN staff have been killed in Gaza since October 7.
- Axios: U.S. – Israeli differences growing over Rafah invasion. The reports come days after U.S. media reported that Biden pressed the Congress to approve $18 billion military package to Israel.
- Journalists killed in Gaza since October 7 reaches 140, according to Gaza’s government media office.
- The U.S. says it had no information about Tuesday’s strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus.
- Thousands of Israelis protest in demand of a ceasefire to release Israeli captives in Gaza and calling for early elections.
- West Bank: Four Israeli police officers injured in car-ramming attack near Qalqilya.
- West Bank: Israeli forces arrest one Palestinian journalist during a night raid in Ramallah.
Israel says the killing of workers in Gaza was “a mistake”
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said on Tuesday that the strike that killed seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen organization in Deir al-Balah was “a mistake.” Netanyahu’s comments came after Australia, Canada, Spain, and the U.S. demanded an investigation into the strike.
Meanwhile, Israeli daily Haaretz said on Tuesday that the international team was hit with three missiles “one after the other”, indicating the intentionality of the strike.
According to Haaretz, who reported from Israeli military sources, the WCK team was traveling in three separate vehicles, leaving a food warehouse in Deir al-Balah. The first vehicle was hit by a missile, and the Israeli drone saw passengers moving to the second vehicle, which continued driving.
The second vehicle was then hit, and passengers began to evacuate the surviving wounded to the third, which was hit by a third missile shortly after. The Israeli army claimed that they suspected that an armed man was in the convoy, and apologized for the killings.
On Tuesday, the UN special rapporteur for human rights in Palestine, Francesca Albanese, said on social media “Knowing how Israel operates, my assessment is that Israeli forces intentionally killed WCK workers so that donors would pull out & civilians in Gaza could continue to be starved quietly.”
Israel’s Genocide War in Gaza Continues
The Israeli strike on an aid convoy in Gaza that killed seven workers for World Central Kitchen (WCK) has sparked international outrage and prompted a rare apology from the Israeli government. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has rejected almost unequivocally international criticism over how Israel has waged its war in Gaza, said yesterday that Israel “deeply regrets the tragic incident.” The Israeli military acknowledged it was responsible for the strike in a video posted to social media today, calling the incident “a grave mistake.” The military’s chief of staff said an independent body would investigate the killings. Aaron Boxerman, Adam Rasgon, and Matthew Mpoke Bigg report for the New York Times.
The Israeli police clashed with anti-government protesters outside Netanyahu’s home in Jerusalem yesterday, marking the third day of demonstrations calling for early elections and his resignation. Thousands of protesters have been demonstrating since Sunday when a planned four-day protest began outside Israel’s parliament. According to the Israeli police force, the protest and an authorized march started peacefully last night but turned into a “riot.” It said in a statement that hundreds of rioters had tried to break through barriers near Netanyahu’s house, but were blocked by the police. Cassandra Vinograd reports for the New York Times.
The Palestinian Authority sent the U.N. Secretary-General a letter renewing its request for U.N. membership, according to the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the U.N. “Today, the State of Palestine, and upon instructions of the Palestinian leadership, sent a letter [to] the Secretary General requesting renewed consideration to Membership application,” the post on X read. CNN reports.
U.S. RESPONSE
President Biden said he was “outraged and heartbroken” over Israel’s killing of WCK workers in Gaza and that Israel had not done enough to protect aid workers. Biden called for Israel’s investigation to be conducted swiftly, saying it “must bring accountability” and that its findings be made public. In some of the strongest language since the start of the war, he said facilitating aid distribution in Gaza has been “so difficult” because Israel had “not done enough to protect aid workers trying to deliver desperately needed help to civilians,” adding that “Israel has also not done enough to protect civilians.” Ido Vock and Tiffanie Turnbull report for BBC News.
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Samantha Power said the killing of WCK workers by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, as well as “the deaths of more than 30,000 Palestinians and 200 humanitarian workers in this conflict, are devastating and deeply alarming.” “We acknowledge Israel’s commitment to conduct a comprehensive investigation into how yesterday’s strike occurred, and as President Biden said, that investigation must be swift, it must bring accountability, and its findings must be made public,” Power said. CNN reports.
The United States conducted another airdrop of food into Northern Gaza yesterday, U.S. Central Command said. “U.S. C-130s dropped over 50,680 U.S. meal equivalents into Northern Gaza, an area of great need, allowing for civilian access to the critical aid,” CENTCOM said.
REGIONAL RESPONSE
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is pausing its involvement in the maritime aid corridor to Gaza until Israel assures aid workers will be protected, sources close to the UAE government told Axios. The announcement follows Israel’s killing of seven WCK workers in an airstrike on Monday, which the UAE foreign ministry condemned. “The UAE holds Israel fully responsible for this dangerous development, and calls for an urgent, independent and transparent investigation, and punishment of those who have committed this heinous crime in contravention of international humanitarian law,” the ministry said.
INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
The majority of diplomats condemned Israel in an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council yesterday, saying it had violated international law and breached the U.N. charter when it struck an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria. The United States, France, and Britain did not condemn Israel, but they joined other countries in reiterating that diplomatic structures should be considered off limits during war and that the airstrikes in Damascus had risked causing further instability in the Middle East. Farnaz Fassihi reports for the New York Times.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak “demanded a thorough and transparent independent investigation” into the killing of WCK workers in Gaza during a call with Netanyahu, according to a government statement. “The Prime Minister said far too many aid workers and ordinary civilians have lost their lives in Gaza and the situation is increasingly intolerable,” the statement said. “The UK expects to see immediate action by Israel to end restrictions on humanitarian aid, deconflict with the UN and aid agencies, protect civilians and repair vital infrastructure like hospitals and water networks.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had a “reasonably long” phone call with Netanyahu today. Albanese said Netanyahu expressed his condolences for the death of an Australian citizen killed in the Israeli strike on the WCK aid convoy, and told Albanese he is “committed to full transparency” over Israel’s investigation into the incident. CNN reports.
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