Canada denounces Netanyahu’s remarks on air strikes that killed 7 aid workers in Gaza

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday condemned comments by his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, saying air strikes on aid workers don’t “just happen”, public broadcaster CBC News reported.

Earlier this week, Netanyahu said the air strikes that killed the seven aid workers of World Central Kitchen (WCK) was a “tragic case of our forces unintentionally hitting innocent people in the Gaza Strip.”

“This happens in wartime,” he added.

The victims included a dual Canadian-US citizen, three Britons, a Polish national, an Australian and a Palestinian.

Trudeau denounced the remarks, saying: “No, it doesn’t just happen.”

“And it shouldn’t just happen when you have aid workers for an extraordinary organisation like World Central Kitchen risking their lives every day in an incredibly dangerous place to deliver food to people who are experiencing a horrific humanitarian catastrophe.”

Trudeau had earlier called for an investigation into Monday’s incident.

“We need a fully open, transparent, independent and rapid investigation into what happened,” he said. “The reality is we need much more humanitarian support to flow into Gaza, much more protection of civilians, of innocents and of aid workers.”

“That’s why we need a humanitarian ceasefire… We need a ceasefire to allow this humanitarian catastrophe to end as quickly as possible.”

WCK founder, Chef Jose Andres, said yesterday that the aid workers had been targeted by Israeli occupation forces, “systematically, car by car.”

READ: Israel targeted foreign aid workers so Palestinians could starve quietly, UN rapporteur says