Biden ‘outraged’ at Israel over Gaza aid convoy deaths

Pope Francis has made his latest request for a cease-fire in Gaza, while expressing his “deep regret” for the seven aid workers killed in an Israeli strike.

“I reiterate my firm request for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip,” Francis said during his weekly general audience at the Vatican, according to the Holy See’s news agency Vatican News.

He said he was praying for the seven World Central Kitchen aid workers killed.

“Let us avoid any irresponsible attempts to escalate the conflict in the region,” he added, before calling for the world to work “tirelessly for an end to this and other wars that continue to bring death and suffering to so many parts of the world.”

Samantha Power, who leads the U.S. Agency for International Development, has called the deaths of seven aid agency workers in an Israeli airstrike “devastating and deeply alarming.”

They “were there to do one thing — to help get food to desperate, starving people,” she said in a statement late yesterday. “Their deaths, and the deaths of more than 30,000 Palestinians and 200 humanitarian workers in this conflict, are devastating and deeply alarming.”

She said Israel’s investigation into the killings “must be swift, it must bring accountability, and its findings must be made public.” And that Israel “must do far more to protect aid workers and protect civilians from the unacceptable levels of casualties they continue to experience as a result of IDF military operations.” Power gave her “deepest condolences to the families, friends, and colleagues of those killed.”

The U.S., which has been criticized for verbally censuring Israel without leveraging its financial and diplomatic support of the country, “will continue to do all we can to deliver humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians in Gaza,” Power added, “but the government of Israel and the IDF must do much more to facilitate this work.”

Police clashed with anti government protesters outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Jerusalem last night on the third day of demonstrations calling for the release of the hostages held in Gaza and for early elections in Israel.

Israel Police said in a statement on X that an authorized march started peacefully but then it turned into a “riot” as hundreds of people tried to break through barriers of Netanyahu’s home. 

One protester waved a burning torch at a police trooper and another lay under a police car, the statement said. 

Five suspects were arrested for violating public order, it added.