Aid workers in Gaza were returning from distributing food that had arrived by ship, when three successive Israeli drone attacks hit their three vehicles and killed 7 of them. In response, the humanitarian charities that ran the operation have suspended their activities in Gaza.

Israel said that the attack was done intentionally, and offered the excuse that an armed HAMAS fighter was accompanying them (but not in order to attack anyone). So what? That is no excuse to attack a group of civilians, let alone a group of aid workers!

That statement shows that Israel's policies are such as to systematically lead to attacks on aid workers, and that its "cooperation" with aid deliveries is bogus.

The article reports that that HAMAS fighter had in fact remained at the warehouse and did not accompany the aid workers who were attacked. But that detail does not matter. Even if he had accompanied them, that would not have excused the wrong of attacking an aid convoy. Local temporary truces are normal and important in war, and Israel must respect them when aid agencies make them. It must also generally avoid attacking civilians even though some HAMAS fighters are near them.

The US government response, though critical of Israel, was too weak. We cannot expect the demanded investigation to seek the truth, and Israel could easily draw it out for six months hoping the world will get distracted. Perhaps the US made that response before Israel stated the details in the article.

Unless the facts stated in the article are incorrect, the only remaining question is why commanders concluded it was acceptable to knowingly attack an aid convoy that they had agreed to protect. Such a sensitive policy decision must have come from a high level — from ministers, I expect.

One must speculate that the purpose of this attack was to make the aid operations suspend bringing food to Gaza. A hypothetical sincere investigation might confirm this, but governments are not often that sincere about their motives.

The US should skip the useless "investigation" and tell Israel to change these policies and respect truces for aid deliveries, or it will receive no more arms.