Israeli President Isaac Herzog has apologised to the head of the World Central Kitchen (WCK) over the killing of seven people in an Israeli strike who were working for the aid group in Gaza.
In a post on X, the Office of the President of Israel said Mr Herzog called WCK founder, chef Jose Andres, and "expressed his deep sorrow and sincere apologies over the tragic loss of life of WCK staff in the Gaza Strip last night, and sent his condolences to their families and loved ones."
It continued: "The President reiterated Israel's commitment to ensuring a thorough investigation of the tragedy, which occurred amidst the ongoing war against the terrorist organization Hamas.
"The President affirmed Israel’s commitment to delivering and upgrading humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, and said that efforts must continue to bring about the immediate release of all the hostages held by Hamas.
"President Herzog thanked Chef Andres and the WCK for their commitment to the wellbeing of Israelis and Palestinians, and to the values of humanity."
Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the deaths were tragic and unintended.
"Unfortunately, in the last day there was a tragic case of our forces unintentionally hitting innocent people in the Gaza Strip," he said as he left hospital in Jerusalem after a hernia operation.
"It happens in war, we will investigate it right to the end ... We are in contact with the governments, and we will do everything so that this thing does not happen again."
The Israeli army has said it will hold an investigation into the strike, saying "we will share our findings transparently".
US-based charity WCK said it was pausing operations after the "targeted Israeli strike" killed Australian, British, Palestinian, Polish and US-Canadian staff.
United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the deaths of the seven aid workers was "the inevitable result of the way this war is currently being conducted".
He said the UN "yet again" calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the six-month long war between Israel and Hamas between Israel and Hamas.
"The multiplicity of such events is the inevitable result of the way this war is being conducted," Mr Dujarric told reporters.
"At least 196 humanitarians have been killed since October in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which is one of the world's most dangerous and difficult places to work," he said.
Asked what the UN would say to the Israeli government over the airstrike, he said: "The message is let humanitarian workers do their job."
AFP video footage showed the impact hole of a strike in the roof of one charred vehicle, perforating the group's logo.
The Israeli military said that an independent, professional expert body would investigate the incident.
Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the incident would be investigated in the "Fact Finding and Assessment Mechanism", which his statement called an "independent, professional, and expert body" without giving details.
"We also express sincere sorrow to our allied nations who have been doing and continue to do so much to assist those in need," he said in the statement.
The White House was "heartbroken", US National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson wrote on X, stressing that relief workers "must be protected as they deliver aid that is desperately needed".
The aid workers' deaths came as fighting raged in the Gaza war sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack in which fierce battles have left the largest hospital, Al Shifa, in ruins with hundreds reported killed.
"The IDF makes extensive efforts to enable the safe delivery of humanitarian aid, and has been working closely with WCK in their vital efforts to provide food and humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza," the military said earlier.
Mr Andres, who started WCK in 2010 by sending cooks and food to Haiti after an earthquake there, said he was heartbroken and grieving for the families and friends of those who died in the attack.
We are aware of reports that members of the World Central Kitchen team have been killed in an IDF attack while working to support our humanitarian food delivery efforts in Gaza. This is a tragedy. Humanitarian aid workers and civilians should NEVER be a target. EVER.
— World Central Kitchen (@WCKitchen) April 1, 2024
"The Israeli government needs to stop this indiscriminate killing," he said on social media. "It needs to stop restricting humanitarian aid, stop killing civilians and aid workers, and stop using food as a weapon. No more innocent lives lost. Peace starts with our shared humanity. It needs to start now."
In a statement, Hamas said the attack aimed to terrorise workers of international humanitarian agencies and deter them from pursuing their missions.
Tehran - which backs Hamas and several other groups fighting Israel and its allies across the region - has vowed revenge against Israel.
Mr Netanyahu has vowed to push on with the war to destroy Hamas, despite rising concern voiced by the US, and nightly mass street protests at home demanding he step down.
The United States said it had expressed concerns to Israel about its planned offensive in Gaza's crowded southern city of Rafah, and that Israel had pledged to "take these concerns into account".
Mr Netanyahu has also vowed to ban broadcasts from Israel by the Qatar-based news channel Al Jazeera, which he labelled a "terrorist channel".
The broadcaster, several of whose journalists have been killed and wounded in the war, called his comments a "dangerous, ludicrous lie".
Since Hamas's 7 October attacks triggered the war, Gaza has been under a near-complete blockade, with the United Nations accusing Israel of preventing deliveries of humanitarian aid.
The Hamas-run health ministry said this morning that at least 32,916 people have been killed in Gaza since 7 October.
The Hamas attack on Israel killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
'Famine is setting in'
The world's top court has ordered Israel to "ensure urgent humanitarian assistance" in Gaza without delay, saying "famine is setting in".
Foreign powers have ramped up deliveries by air and sea, although UN agencies and charities warn this falls far short of what is desperately needed, with trucks still the most efficient way of delivering aid.
After the UN-backed report last month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it was the first time an entire population had been classified at severe levels of "acute" food insecurity.
WCK has been working to unload food brought via a maritime corridor from EU member-state Cyprus.
The bodies of the aid workers killed were taken to a hospital mortuary in the central town of Deir al-Balah, an AFP photographer reported.
One of them was laid on a makeshift stretcher, wearing a top emblazoned with the WCK name and logo.
The group's CEO Erin Gore said "I am heartbroken and appalled that we - World Central Kitchen and the world - lost beautiful lives today because of a targeted attack by the IDF."
The aid group said the team was travelling in a "de-conflicted" area in a convoy of "two armoured cars branded with the WCK logo and a soft skin vehicle" at the time of the strike.
"Despite coordinating movements with the (Israeli army), the convoy was hit as it was leaving the Deir al-Balah warehouse, where the team had unloaded more than 100 tons of humanitarian food aid brought to Gaza on the maritime route," it said.
The Israeli military said it was "conducting a thorough review at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of this tragic incident", adding it had been "working closely with WCK".
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez demanded Israel explain the "brutal" strike, and Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski asked the Israeli ambassador for "urgent explanations".
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also condemned the "completely unacceptable" attack.
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The Gaza war has heightened fears of a wider regional conflagration, as Israel has exchanged fire with Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and violence has flared in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
Those fears intensified with the strikes in Damascus in which 11 people were killed according to Britain-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said seven of its members were killed, including the Brigadiers General Mohammad Reza Zahedi and Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi.
Israel did not comment, but Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian blamed it as well as its ally the United States, saying that "the Americans must take responsibility".
The UN Security Council was to discuss the strike later Tuesday at a meeting requested by Damascus ally Moscow.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi vowed that the "inhuman, aggressive and despicable act ... will not go unanswered".
Yesterday, the Israeli army pulled out of Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City after an intensive, two-week military operation against Hamas transformed the territory's largest medical complex into charred ruins.
"There are more terrorists in the hospital than patients or medical staff," Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said, adding that 900 people had been apprehended at the sprawling complex, with over 500 of them "definitely" militants.
A spokesman for Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces had killed about 300 people in and around the hospital during the two-week operation.
Medics carting patients and bodies from the destroyed site had to manoeuver stretchers between mounds of rubble.
Several doctors and civilians at the damaged complex told AFP that at least 20 bodies had been found, some of which appeared to have been driven over by military vehicles.
The Israeli military said yesterday that 600 soldiers had been killed since the start of the war.
