Secretary Antony J. Blinken Remarks to the Press

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  We received Israel’s report on the terrible killing of the World Central Kitchen team in Gaza a few days ago.  We’re reviewing it very carefully.  We’ll be discussing its conclusions with Israeli officials and with humanitarian organizations in the days to come. 

It’s very important that Israel is taking full responsibility for this incident.  It’s also important that it appears to be taking steps to hold those responsible accountable.  Even more important is making sure that steps are taken going forward to ensure that something like this can never happen again. 

Prime Minister Netanyahu indicated to President Biden that Israel would be making further changes to its procedures to make sure that those who are providing assistance to people who so desperately need it in Gaza are protected.  So we’re going to be looking very carefully at what those steps are, how it achieves better deconfliction, better coordination, so that aid workers are protected. 

At the same time, as Israel pursues any military operations against Hamas, it has to prioritize the protection of civilians.  It has to make that job number one.  Too many people have been caught in this crossfire of Hamas’ making – children, women, men losing their lives.  Their safety has to be a priority, and military operations need to be designed around their protection, not the other way around.

So we’ll be looking at all of this in the days to come.  And we’ll be, as I said, assessing fully the report on the World Central Kitchen incident, and we’re looking to see not just what steps are being taken but the results that follow from them.