Trudeau condemns Netanyahu's comments on strike that killed Canadian, 6 other aid workers

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pushed back Thursday on comments made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about an Israeli military airstrike that killed seven aid workers in Gaza, including one Canadian.

In a video statement released earlier this week, Netanyahu expressed regret over the incident and called it a «tragic case of our forces unintentionally hitting innocent people in the Gaza Strip.» He also said «this happens in wartime» and that Israel was looking into the situation.

«No, it doesn't just happen,» Trudeau said Thursday during an event in Winnipeg. «And it shouldn't just happen when you have aid workers for an extraordinary organization like World Central Kitchen risking their lives every day in an incredibly dangerous place to deliver food to people who are experiencing a horrific humanitarian catastrophe.»

Jacob Flickinger, a 33-year-old Canadian veteran, was killed by the Israeli airstrike, along with six other aid workers. The incident has triggered widespread international condemnation. U.S. President Joe Biden said he was «outraged and heartbroken» by the incident.

In a letter released earlier this week, World Central Kitchen's chief José Andrés called on Israelis to push their government to change the way it's conducting its war against Hamas. He said his group had coordinated its aid deliveries with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

The IDF said the strike was a «grave mistake.»

«I want to be very clear — the strike was not carried out with the intention of harming WCK aid workers. It was a mistake that followed a misidentification, at night, during a war in very complex conditions. It shouldn't have happened,» Herzi Halevi, the IDF chief of staff, said Wednesday.

More than 196 humanitarian workers,