Directly addressing Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s envoy in Warsaw, Tusk wrote on the X social network: “Today you have put this solidarity to the test. The tragic attack on volunteers and your response is completely understandable outrage.”
The strike killed seven aid workers in Gaza, including Australian, British, Palestinian, Polish and US-Canadian nationals, who had just delivered a humanitarian aid food consignment to the war-torn territory.
Israel’s defense chief said on Wednesday that the strike was a “big mistake”.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski warned that the incident would likely lead to an outbreak of anti-Semitism in Poland and called on Israel to “apologise and pay compensation to the families of those killed.”
“If it’s true and the convoy was deliberately attacked on suspicion of having a terrorist in it, thus sacrificing civilian lives, I don’t know of any (political) system that would justify it,” he told Polish radio station Trojka.
“There is clearly something wrong with the Israeli military’s rules of engagement,” he said. – One cannot lightly lay a hand on this matter, claiming that this is what happens in war, as B. Netanyahu said yesterday.”
The attack drew widespread condemnation, with US President Joe Biden saying Israel “didn’t do enough to protect humanitarian workers”.
“This is not an isolated incident,” Mr. Biden said in a written statement released Tuesday night.
“This conflict is one of the worst in recent memory in terms of the number of aid workers killed,” Mr. Biden said, adding that this is one of the main reasons why it is so difficult to distribute humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip.
“Israel has not done enough to protect aid workers trying to provide desperately needed aid to the civilian population,” Mr. Biden said. “Such incidents like yesterday simply must not happen.”
“Israel also failed to do everything it could to protect the civilian population,” Mr. Biden continued. “The United States has repeatedly urged Israel to separate military operations against Hamas from humanitarian operations to avoid civilian casualties.”
Mr. Biden called for an urgent investigation and publication of its results. He said he was “outraged and depressed” by the deaths of the volunteers. “They provided food to starving civilians at the height of the war. They were brave and selfless. Their deaths are a tragedy,” the US president said.
Mr. Biden and his administration have long refrained from public objections, but in recent weeks have taken an increasingly harsh tone toward Israel’s leadership.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the attack “unfathomable to common sense.”
Tags: tragic incident tensions Israel Poland Tusk turned Netanyahu
