WASHINGTON (CN) — Members of Congress amped up calls for a cease-fire in Gaza this week after Israeli forces killed a group of international aid workers in an airstrike, which some framed as part of a pattern of indiscriminate violence against civilians in Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas.
Israel has taken responsibility for the Monday strike on a convoy of vehicles belonging to World Central Kitchen, a food aid nonprofit founded by celebrity chef José Andrés. The attack, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as a “tragic incident,” killed seven people, including an Australian citizen; a dual-nationality American and Canadian citizen; and three U.K. citizens.
World Central Kitchen has said the convoy was clearly marked with the nonprofit’s logo and was traveling through a deconflicted zone. The aid workers had also coordinated their movements with the Israel Defense Forces.
Erin Gore, the nonprofit’s CEO, called the Israeli strike a “targeted attack,” adding in a statement Tuesday that the deaths of aid workers will affect humanitarian organizations “showing up in the most dire of situations where food is being used as a weapon of war.”
Although the IDF has said it will investigate the strike and have maintained that it was an unfortunate mistake in an active warzone, members of Congress came down hard on Israel and Netanyahu this week. Lawmakers argued the Israeli military hasn’t done enough to avoid civilian casualties as it battles Hamas forces in Gaza and works to free hostages the group took during its Oct. 7, 2023, incursion into Israel.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, a top Democratic lawmaker, offered some particularly pointed criticism of the Israeli prime minister in a post on X Wednesday morning, writing that the attack on aid workers “makes it clear that Netanyahu cannot or will not protect the innocent people in Gaza.”
“Enough,” said Durbin. “We need a cease-fire and release of all remaining hostages now.”
Speaking on MSNBC Wednesday morning, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders argued that the U.S. should withhold aid to Israel as the civilian death toll continues to climb. Of the more than 30,000 people killed since Oct. 7, more than two-thirds have been women and children, he pointed out.
“What Israel is doing is fighting not just Hamas but going to war against the entire Palestinian people,” Sanders said, “and this World Central Kitchen horror is just one part of what the Netanyahu war machine is doing.”
Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Middle East and counterterrorism subcommittee, called on Israel to pause military operations in Gaza immediately.
“Addressing starvation and the broader humanitarian crisis must be a priority,” he said Wednesday.
Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar branded Monday’s airstrike “an outrageous war crime that cannot go unanswered.”
“There is no justification for making humanitarian aid workers a target,” said Omar.
Lawmakers, particularly Democrats, have for months called for a cease-fire in Gaza. Some members of Congress have also become increasingly critical of Netanyahu’s leadership as the war drags on and the death toll mounts.
During a speech on the Senate floor last month, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called for new elections in Israel, contending that the prime minister has aligned himself with right-wing interests and that he has “allowed his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel.”
Israeli government officials and congressional Republicans both condemned the Democratic leader’s comments at the time, suggesting Schumer was interfering in Israel’s sovereign affairs.
Meanwhile the White House reacted with shock to the news of Monday’s strike on aid workers. In a statement Tuesday, President Biden said he was “outraged and heartbroken” by the attack and said the workers killed by Israeli forces were “brave and selfless” for their efforts to feed civilians in a warzone.
Biden also pointed out that this week’s incident didn’t take place in a vacuum and said Israel has not done enough to protect aid workers or the civilians they are trying to help.
“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.
Biden added that the U.S. is “pushing hard” for a cease-fire that includes the release of Israeli hostages.
Samantha Power, director of U.S. foreign aid organization USAID, echoed the president’s comments in a separate statement Tuesday, pressing the Israeli government to quickly complete its investigation into the strike and make its findings public.
“[W]hat is clear is that the government of Israel must do far more to protect aid workers and protect civilians from the unacceptable levels of casualties they continue to experience as a result of IDF military operations,” Power said.
Israel began its assault on Gaza after Hamas, the de facto government of the Palestinian enclave and a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, attacked Israeli settlements in October, killing more than 1,000 people, including many civilians.
The Israeli government has long faced criticism for its treatment of Palestinians in Gaza, which has remained under an economic blockade for more than a decade. The ongoing conflict, which has seen more than 70% of Gazan homes damaged or destroyed, only served to heighten scrutiny on Israel’s posture towards Palestinian civilians.
Israel’s strike on aid workers Monday came the same day as a separate Israeli airstrike in Damascus that killed two officials of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including senior commander Mohammad Reza Zahedi.
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