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The US President, Joe Biden, condemned the killing of seven humanitarian workers in Gaza, the BBC reports. Declaring himself “indignant and heartbroken”, he accused Israel of not doing enough to protect humanitarian workers, writes news.ro.

Israel promised an independent investigation after Britain, the US, Canada, Australia and Poland lost their citizens in Monday’s attack.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog apologized for these deaths.

The seven victims, who worked for World Central Kitchen (WCK), were killed on Monday when their convoy was attacked from the air.

Biden demanded that the Israeli investigation be carried out quickly and declared that it “must bring accountability” and that its conclusions be made public.

The distribution of aid in Gaza was “so difficult”, he said, because Israel “did not do enough to protect the aid workers who were trying to deliver much-needed aid to civilians”.

In one of the harshest speeches since the start of the war, Biden also accused Israel of not doing enough to protect Palestinian civilians.

“The United States has repeatedly urged Israel to reconcile its military operations against Hamas with humanitarian operations in order to avoid civilian casualties,” the American leader said.

Humanitarian aid to Gaza is in doubt after WCK – a key aid provider to the Gaza Strip – suspended its operations.

Three of the aid workers killed were British citizens. A Polish citizen, an Australian, a Palestinian and a dual US-Canadian citizen were also killed. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) promised an independent investigation into the incident.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke on Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. During the call, he described the situation in Gaza as “increasingly intolerable” and “called for an independent, full and transparent investigation” into the killing of aid workers.

Sunak added that Israel must end restrictions on humanitarian aid and protect civilians, according to a Downing Street statement.

WCK – founded by the famous chef José Andrés – is one of the main providers of aid to Gaza. Four days ago, it said it had served 42 million meals in the territory – sending more than 1,700 food trucks and also almost 435,000 meals by sea.

The charity said it would immediately cease operations in the region. “We will soon make decisions regarding the future of our activity”, stated the organization.

According to Cogat, the Israeli Ministry of Defense body responsible for civilian policy in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the WCK is responsible for 60 percent of the non-governmental aid that reaches the territory.

A second charity, the US-based Near East Refugee Aid (Anera), which worked closely with WCK, told the BBC it had also frozen its operations in Gaza.

List of humanitarian workers who were killed

– Lalzawmi “Zomi” Frankcom, Australian citizen

– Damian Sobol, Polish citizen

– Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, Palestinian

– Jacob Flickinger, American-Canadian citizen

– John Chapman, British citizen

– James Henderson, British citizen

– James Kirby, British citizen

All seven were “heroes”, declared the executive director of WCK.

According to the charity, the aid convoy was hit as it left the depot in Deir al-Balah, “where the team had unloaded over 100 tonnes of humanitarian food aid brought to Gaza by sea”.

The convoy consisted of three vehicles, two of which were armored, which clearly displayed the charity’s logo. All three were hit during the attack.

The WCK said it coordinated the convoy’s movements with the IDF.

More than 196 aid workers have been killed in Gaza since October, according to the Aid Worker Security Database, a US-funded database that records major incidents of violence against aid workers. Not all were killed in the line of duty.

Much of the Gaza Strip was devastated during Israeli military operations that began after Hamas gunmen attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing an estimated 1,200 people and taking 253 hostages.

Approximately 130 of the hostages remained in captivity, of which at least 34 are presumed dead.

More than 32,916 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.