In the days following the Israeli assault that claimed the lives of seven employees from World Central Kitchen—Andrés’ humanitarian organisation that supplies meals to people afflicted with hunger as a result of war—Andrés characterised Israel’s blockade of Gaza as a “war against humanity itself.”
It appears that we are not fighting a war against terror. The defence of Israel appears to no longer be the primary objective of this conflict. According to Andrés, who said during an interview that aired on Sunday’s episode of ABC’s “This Week,” the Israelis now perceive it as a battle against humanity.
President Joe Biden expressed his “outrage and heartbroken” over the killings on Monday, and he went on to warn Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the United States’ policy towards Israel, its main Middle Eastern ally, depends on Israel’s rapid response to the humanitarian crisis in the region. In an interview on Sunday, John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, declined to specify what measures the United States may take.
“I prefer not to jump the gun on the president,” Kirby stated after Andrés’ ABC appearance. “Change must occur gradually.”
Multiple strikes on an aid convoy were caused by major mistakes and protocol violations, according to an internal investigation published Friday by the IDF. “Those who approved the strike were convinced that they were targeting armed Hamas operatives and not WCK employees,” declared the Israeli military.
But Andrés demanded more thorough and impartial investigations into the incident and cast doubt on the investigation’s findings.
“The perpetrator cannot be investigating himself,” Andrés stated during the ABC interview.
However, I believe that additional details are required. Video quality needs to be improved. We should be stating what the conversations were, the radio transmissions between the various commanding commanders and soldiers stating that those vehicles were targets due to the impending danger they posed.
Furthermore, Andrés denied that the convoy’s WCK insignia were invisible to the officers due to the darkness, refuting Israel’s assertions.
It is important to me that the video and photos be of good quality. Those logos were probably visible, he assured Martha Raddatz of ABC. Given that the WCK convoy had been in coordination with the IDF and that separate, consecutive strikes were authorised as the workers tried to travel from one truck to another to reach safety, it was “obvious,” he later added, that the convoy had been intentionally assaulted.
“We haven’t come to any conclusions one way or another,” Kirby said, adding that the United States is still considering the findings of the Israeli investigation.
The humanitarian organisation Andrés heads also has operations in Ukraine, and he drew parallels between the fighting in Ukraine and the assaults on Gaza by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“It cannot be forgiven. For the remainder of my life, this will be my reality. “This is something that will be with us forever,” Andrés remarked. What’s transpiring in Ukraine is something I’ve witnessed personally. Cities and towns being destroyed by Putin and Russia. On the other hand, Prime Minister Netanyahu is following a similar strategy.