Biden rebukes Israel, says he’s ‘outraged’ over deaths of Gaza aid workers

US president issues some of his strongest criticis of Israel yet after deaths of seven aid workers in Israeli airstrike.

United States President Joe Biden has said he is “outraged and heartbroken” over Israel’s killing of seven aid workers in Gaza, delivering some of his strongest criticism yet of the close US ally.

In a statement issued by the White House on Tuesday night, Biden squarely accused Israel of not doing enough to protect innocent civilians in its war against Hamas.

“This conflict has been one of the worst in recent memory in terms of how many aid workers have been killed. This is a major reason why distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza has been so difficult – because Israel has not done enough to protect aid workers trying to deliver desperately needed help to civilians,” Biden said, describing the deceased aid workers as “brave and selfless.”

“Incidents like yesterday’s simply should not happen. Israel has also not done enough to protect civilians. The United States has repeatedly urged Israel to deconflict their military operations against Hamas with humanitarian operations, in order to avoid civilian casualties.”

Biden said that an investigation that Israel has promised to carry out into the incident “must be swift, it must bring accountability, and its findings must be made public.”