US secretary of state Antony Blinken has called the World Central Kitchen humanitarian workers killed in Gaza “heroes.”
Blinken is in Paris, meeting with government ministers in the French capital, and took part in a press conference after a meeting at the ministry of foreign affairs.
Blinken has called for “a swift, a thorough and impartial investigation” into the killings of the seven workers on Monday night by Israeli forces, Reuters reported.
These people are heroes, they run into the fire, not away from it. We shouldn’t have a situation where people who are simply trying to help their fellow human beings are themselves at grave risk.”
But Blinken stopped short of directly condemning the attack, unlike his French counterpart Stephane Sejourne.
Biden faces pressure from foreign partners, human rights groups and some of his
fellow Democrats in Congress to impose conditions on arms transfers to rein in Israel’s offensive in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
Hours before the Israeli strike on WCK workers on Monday, Reuters reported that the Biden administration was considering proceeding with an $18bn arms transfer package to Israel.
Asked if incidents like the killing of WCK workers made the United States think twice about its “flood of weapons” to Israel, Blinken did not address the specific question but said all US arms transfers happened consistent to policy requirements.
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken holds a joint press conference with French foreign minister after their meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris on April 2, 2024. Photograph: Benoît Tessier/AFP/Getty Images
