IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari responded Tuesday morning to an incident in which World Central Kitchen employees were killed in Gaza.
"Last night, an incident took place in Gaza that resulted in the tragic death of World Central Kitchen employees as they fulfilled their vital mission of bringing food to people in need," Hagari said.
"As a professional military committed to international law, we are committed to examining our operations thoroughly and transparently."
He added, "I just spoke to WCK Founder, Chef Jose Anders, and expressed the deepest condolences of the Israel Defense Forces to the families and the entire World Central Kitchen family."
"We also express sincere sorrow to our allied nations who have been doing and continue to do so much to assist those in need."
Hagari stressed that the IDF is "reviewing the incident at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of what happened and how it happened. We will be opening a probe to examine this serious incident further. This will help us reduce the risk of such an event from occurring again."
"The incident will be investigated in the Fact Finding and Assessment Mechanism - an independent, professional, and expert body," he noted.
"For the last few months, the IDF has been working closely with the World Central Kitchen to assist them in fulfilling their noble mission of helping bring food and humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. WCK also came to help Israelis after the massacre of October 7th; they were one of the first NGOs here.
"The work of WCK is critical; they are on the frontlines of humanity.
"We will get to the bottom of this and we will share our findings transparently."