Two months after the strike on World Central Kitchen workers, U.S. still reviewing Israel's investigation

WASHINGTON — More than two months after an Israeli airstrike killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza, the Biden administration still has not provided an assessment of the preliminary investigation by Israel that determined the incident was a “grave mistake.”

White House officials have privately said for weeks that they are waiting on Israel to provide “underlying information” about the April strike and cannot complete its review without it. A meeting with Israeli officials about the additional details the U.S. has requested is supposed to take place sometime in the next couple weeks, but no date has been set, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the discussions.

“We continue to engage with the Israeli government on this,” one of the officials told NBC News.

The Israel Defense Forces released an initial assessment a few days after the April 1 strike that found that the attack “should not have occurred” and said those who approved the action “were convinced that they were targeting armed Hamas operatives and not WCK employees.” The IDF continues to examine what happened and will submit an additional investigation for review, the IDF said in a statement.

The delay by the Biden administration in making an assessment on Israel’s investigation of the WCK strike comes as the U.S. is again deferring to Israel about another deadly incident in Gaza — an airstrike that killed dozens of Palestinian civilians in a tent camp in Rafah late last month.

“Let’s see what the investigation comes up with,” White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters at the time. The White House has not said how long that investigation may take.

In the aftermath of the strike on WCK aid workers, the