Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Wednesday the response of his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu to an air strike that killed seven aid workers was “insufficient” and “unacceptable”.

“We are waiting for a much more detailed clarification of what the causes have been, bearing in mind that the Israeli government knew about the actions and the itinerary of this NGO on the ground in Gaza,” Sanchez told a Doha news conference at the end of a three-nation tour of the Middle East.

“It seems to me absolutely unacceptable, insufficient,” he added when asked about Netanyahu’s statements about the tragedy.

US-based food aid organisation World Central Kitchen – founded by Spanish-American celebrity chef Jose Andres – said it was pausing its operations in Gaza after the “targeted Israeli strike” on Monday killed Australian, British, Palestinian, Polish and US-Canadian staff.

Netanyahu later admitted Israel’s military had “unintentionally” killed them in an air strike.

He said it was a “tragic case” that would be investigated “right to the end” but stopped short of apologising for the deaths.

 

The Israeli army said Tuesday it would hold an investigation into the air strike and pledged to “share our findings transparently”.

Sanchez has been one of the most critical voices in Europe over the way Israel has conducted its military campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas’s October 7 attacks.

He has repeatedly said the only solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the recognition of two states, Israel and Palestine.

The bloodiest-ever Gaza war erupted with Hamas’s October 7 attack, which resulted in about 1,160 mostly civilian deaths in Israel, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 32,916 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

The Israeli military’s heavy aerial bombardment in the aftermath of the attack, and its ongoing ground operations inside Gaza, have reduced many areas of the territory to rubble, creating an estimated 26 million tons of debris.