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LONDON — The U.K. summoned Israel’s ambassador and demanded an investigation into the “completely unacceptable” killing of food aid workers, including three British nationals, in an airstrike in Gaza.
Foreign Secretary David Cameron called his Israeli counterpart while Foreign Office Andrew Mitchell summoned Tzipi Hotovely, Israel’s ambassador to the U.K., to a meeting after seven workers from World Central Kitchen were killed in the strike.
The group has provided hundreds of tons of humanitarian aid to starving Gazans, amounting to more than 42 million meals over 175 days.
In a statement issued after his call with Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, Cameron said: “Israel must urgently explain how this happened and make major changes to ensure safety of aid workers on the ground.”
Mitchell meanwhile added in a punchy statement issued by the Foreign Office that he had “set out the government’s unequivocal condemnation of the appalling killing of 7 World Central Kitchen aid workers, including 3 British nationals.”
“I requested a quick and transparent investigation, shared with the international community, and full accountability,” he added.
It marks a notable hardening in tone from a British government which has tended to stress its strong support for Israel in the wake of the October 7 attacks. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told reporters his thoughts were with the families of those killed, and urged Israel to take “immediate steps to protect aid workers and facilitate vital humanitarian operations in Gaza.”
It came as Australia’s Anthony Albanese expressed his own anger at the “completely unacceptable” killing of 43-year-old Australian aid worker Lalzawmi Frankcom in the same bombing. Albanese too summoned the Israeli ambassador.
On Tuesday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted “innocent people” had been killed in the “unintentional” airstrike.
“It happens in war, we check it to the end, we are in contact with the governments, and we will do everything so that this thing does not happen again,” he vowed.
World Central Kitchen said it had paused its operations “immediately” following the airstrike.
Seb Starcevic contributed reporting.
