Backlash against Israel spirals after killing of aid workers, as UK urged to stop arms sales
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu that he “was appalled” by the airstrike that killed aid workers in Gaza, including three UK nationals – as the British leader faces pressure by the opposition to stop sending arms to Israel.
While Sunkak said he supports Israel’s war against Hamas, the British PM is among the many world leaders condemning Monday’s airstrike that killed seven World Central Kitchen staffers and their Palestinian driver who had unloaded more than 100 tons of food in northern Gaza when they were struck by an Israeli missile.
Despite the deaths of the three British nationals, Sunkak said he is resisting calls from Liberal Democrats in parliament to halt the sale of weapons to Israel.
“We’ve always had a very careful export licensing regime that we adhere to,” Sunak said in an interview with The Sun’s politics show “Never Mind the Ballots.” “There are a set of rules, regulations and procedures that we’ll always follow.”
The British PM added that he has been clear with Netanyahu throughout the conflict that while Israel has a right to defend itself from Hamas, “they have to do that in accordance with humanitarian law, protect civilian lives, get more aid into Gaza.”
In his phone call with Netanyahu on Tuesday, Sunak said he told him the current situation in Gaza was “increasingly intolerable.”
Sunak’s comments came after LibDem party leader Ed Davey said the UK “must take swift action to suspend arms exports to Israel” following the death of the aid workers.
“For years Liberal Democrats have called for far tougher control of arms exports, so that British arms are not being used in conflicts such as the devastating one in Gaza,” LibDems party leader Ed Davey wrote on X.
The British government has sold weapons and military components worth more than $719 million to Israel since 2008.
The US-based World Central Kitchen, founded by Spanish celebrity chef Jose Andres, named the victims on Tuesday as dual US-Canada citizen Jacob Flickinger, 33; Lalzawmi (Zomi) Frankcom, 43, an Australian; John Chapman, 57, James (Jim) Henderson, 33, and James Kirby, 47, Britons; Damian Sobol, 35, a Pole; and Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, 25, a Palestinian.
President Biden also joined the chorus of condemnation against Israel, saying he was “outraged and heartbroken” by the killings of the aid workers delivering food to Gaza’s population — and demanded accountability and transparency from Israel.
“Even more tragically, this is not a stand-alone incident,” he said. “This conflict has been one of the worst in recent memory in terms of how many aid workers have been killed.”
Biden argued that Israel, which has been battling Hamas since the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, has not done enough to protect humanitarian workers or civilians in Gaza.
“The United States has repeatedly urged Israel to deconflict their military operations against Hamas with humanitarian operations, in order to avoid civilian casualties,” he said.
Along with Sunkak and Biden, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk also turned critical of Israel, as one of the killed workers was from his nation.
“The vast majority of Poles showed full solidarity with Israel after the Hamas attack,” Tusk wrote on X. “Today you are putting this solidarity to a really hard test. The tragic attack on volunteers and your reaction arouse understandable anger.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese decried the “completely unacceptable” attack, calling it a “tragedy that should never have occurred.”
Canada’s Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said her country expects full accountability for the aid workers’ killings.
“Strikes on humanitarian personnel are absolutely unacceptable,” she wrote on X.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday dismissed explanations provided by Israel about the airstrike as “unacceptable and insufficient.”
“We are awaiting a much stronger and more detailed clarification, after which we’ll see what action to take,” said Sanchez during a visit to Qatar.
Netanyahu has apologized for the strike, saying in a video message Tuesday that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) air attack that killed “innocent people” was unintended, adding, “This happens in war.”
In a post on X following Tusk’s comments, Israel’s ambassador to Poland Yacov Livne said Israel had “repeatedly expressed our deep regret, sorrow and condolences over the tragic loss of life of @WCKitchen workers.”
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said Tuesday that the airstrike was “a mistake that followed a misidentification — at night during a war in very complex conditions. It shouldn’t have happened.”
The Israeli military promised an investigation by “an independent, professional and expert body.”
At least 196 humanitarian workers have been killed in Gaza since the outbreak of the war, according to the United Nations.
With Post wires
