NATO chief condemns Israel killing of aid workers in Gaza

The NATO Secretary-General on Wednesday condemned this week’s killing of seven aid workers in the Gaza Strip, but welcomed Israel’s initiative to launch an investigation into the incident, Anadolu Agency reports.

“What we see now in Gaza is humanitarian catastrophe. We see suffering, we see that civilians are killed, and we also saw the strike against aid workers and I condemn the strike,” Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference in Brussels, where foreign ministers of The Defence Alliance had gathered for a meeting.

The NATO chief said he welcomed the fact that Israel has made sure it will investigate what happened.

The workers from World Central Kitchen, which feeds people in disaster and war zones, were killed in an Israeli strike Monday in the Gaza Strip. The victims were nationals of Australia, Poland, the UK, Palestine, as well as a US-Canada dual citizen. The NGO has, since, paused its operations in the region.

Stoltenberg said this shows “very serious consequences” for innocent people, not only people living in Gaza, but also aid workers.

He also welcomed the efforts by the allies including the US and UK to facilitate “some kind of ceasefire and a political solution.”

Israel has killed nearly 33,000 Palestinians since the 7 October, 2023 cross-border incursion by Hamas that claimed 1,200 lives.

However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.

While the enclave has turned to ruins, more than half of the 2.3 million population of Gaza is internally displaced and faces starvation.

READ: FACTBOX – What we know so far about the seven aid workers killed in Gaza by Israel