Israel Gaza live: Biden calls on Netanyahu to protect aid workers after deadly strike

Joe Biden told Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that US policy in Gaza could change if Israel does not make efforts to protect civilians and aid workers.

A readout from the call released by the White House said that Mr Biden “made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers.”

The president did not, however, announce any conditions on future US military aid for Israel as many in his party have pushed for.

The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg reports on the call here.

Following the deaths of the seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, responses have come from leaders across the world, with Israel taking responsibility for the deaths — which it said was unintentional — and promising to conduct an independent investigation. Here’s what’s been said so far:

The Independent’s International Correspondent Bel Trew reports on the British link to the Israeli drone that killed seven aid workers in Gaza on Monday.

Her story can be read here.

A new diplomatic crisis between Poland and Israel has erupted following the death of a Polish aid worker in Gaza, with the Polish president on Thursday denouncing a comment by the Israeli ambassador as “outrageous” and the Foreign Ministry in Warsaw saying it was summoning him for a meeting.

A 35-year-old Polish man was among seven people who were killed while delivering food to besieged Palestinians with the charity World Central Kitchen. Israel has called the incident a “mistake” that followed a misidentification. The charity said its vehicles were clearly marked.

Amid shock in Poland over the death of the charity worker, Israel’s ambassador to Poland, Yacov Livne, pushed back at what he said were attempts by the “extreme right and left in Poland” to accuse Israel of “intentional murder in the attack.”

The seven aid workers killed by an Israeli air strike have become symbolic of the lawless, reckless manner in which Benjamin Netanyahu has prosecuted this war. The moment has come to do whatever it takes to force the government of Israel to end it.

Joe Biden and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu have begun their first call since Israel’s deadly strike on an international aid convoy that killed seven people.

The call between the two leaders comes as Mr Biden faces increasing pressure from a growing chorus of voices who are fed up with what they perceive as a callous refusal to rein in Israeli violations of international humanitarian law.

The killing of seven aid workers with the World Central Kitchen (WCK) — a non-profit humanitarian aid organisation founded by celebrity chef José Andrés — by three precision strikes from an Israeli drone made with British components, drew swift condemnation from the president, who said he was “outraged and heartbroken” over the deaths.

Investigations into potential Israeli war crimes and violations of international law are being undermined by President Joe Biden’s insistence on providing his close ally with billions of dollars in unconditional military support, several former State Department and Pentagon officials told The Independent.

Speaking out after the killing of seven international aid workers by Israel in Gaza, among them an American citizen, one former Pentagon attorney said that any US investigations into Israel’s actions were “perfunctory” and “performative” due to pressure from the White House.

The former officials say the president’s decades-long and deeply held personal connection to Israel renders US laws and regulations concerning US arms sales essentially toothless.

Humanitarian food charity World Central Kitchen has called for an independent investigation into the Israeli air strike that killed seven of its aid workers in Gaza on Monday.

The investigation must establish “whether [the drone strikes] were carried out intentionally or otherwise violated international law”, it said in a statement on Thursday.