Raf Sanchez: WCK autos hit ‘personally,’ appears to be ‘very precise Israeli airstrike’

Joining me now NBC News International correspondent Raph Sanchez who is in Tel Aviv for us and NBC News White House correspondent Mike mamaly so Raph NBC News located each of the destroyed Aid vehicles I saw your reports all morning what did they find yeah Andrew so we mapped out the locations of each of these three.

Destroyed Aid vehicles that you have been seeing the Twisted wreckage of over the last 48 hours or so our unbelievably Brave colleagues from Gaza crew going physically to the spots where those seven Aid workers were killed sending us back the location sending us back the footage and just to be really clear it is not like these seven World Central.

Kitchen Aid workers were caught in some kind of Crossfire and that they were hit accidentally as Israel was targeting Hamas each of these vehicles was hit individually by what appears to be a very precise Israeli air strike now we heard from the chief of staff of the Israeli military he is saying what happened here was a misidentification.

That the Israeli military mistook these humanitarian vehicles for some kind of threat he said that happens at night and that it happens in a complex War environment what he has not addressed the Israeli military has not addressed so far is this question of how is it that the world Central kitchen coordinated the movement of these.

Vehicles ahead of time which the a organization says it did and yet the Israeli military still opened fire it's worth noting also they were driving on this Coastal Road along the Mediterranean and this is a road that is deconflict it is a road that is supposed to be safe for humanitarian workers so we have this initial statement from the.

Head of the Israeli military he says there is going to be a Swift and transparent investigation Israel will publish the findings of that investigation but right now there are still a lot of questions coming from the White House coming from World Central Kitchen and coming from the families of these seven killed Aid workers I will.

Say Andrea the bodies have just in the last hour or so crossed over from Gaza into Egypt the beginning of their long journey home Andrew and you also Raph had been reporting about another incident that happened just tu days before the strike what can you tell us about that that's right so World Central.

Kitchen tells us that two days before the deadly air strike they believe an Israeli sniper opened fire on one of their vehicles this happened in southern Gaza in the Han Yunis area nobody was injured in this incident a bullet apparently striking one of the wing mirrors but clearly this raised alarm in real time over the weekends and World.

Central Kitchen says it filed a complaint with the Israeli military now we asked the IDF about this incident we didn't hear back but assuming that it is true it really raises questions about the safety of humanitarian organizations and it may be an indication that what happened on Monday with such catastrophic loss of life was.

Not an isolated incident that it may have been just a matter of time the UN says what happened was not an isolated incident by any standards and they point out that around 200 Aid workers the vast majority of them Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war that just absolutely shatters numbers from previous conflicts and it's.

The sad case that a lot of those Palestinian Aid workers their deaths not getting the same level of attention as these International Aid workers but it underscores that Gaza has been an unbelievably dangerous situation for humanitarians for people who've been trying to help for a long time now Andre indeed and I know Israel has very very.

Strong views about the unra the UN workers but that that aside they've been investigating them and making charges against them and it is controversial the rest of the world does not agree with that but no one has ever questioned the the independence and the lack of any kind of political views um from World K Central Kitchen they've worked all over.

The world for many many years we know Jose Andes from when he first founded it and it just has never been the case Mike um we know that the president's been speaking on uh Healthcare right now with Bernie Sanders and some others at the at the White House but we want to continue on this subject because of its importance we'll bring it to you if he.

Begins to talk about this of course Mike we heard the strongest language yet when the president said that he was outraged um and that Israel has not done enough to protect Aid workers and civilians where does the US go from here well Andrea we've been closely measuring the degrees of daylight between the Biden Administration and the.

Israeli government the Netanyahu government specifically since October we remember of course that hug in Tel Aviv when the president came quickly to visit Israel after October 7th he continues to express the US's strong support for Israel just last week in fact at that fundraiser with the three presidents he said uh talked about the hostage who.

Have been not killed he said massacred so clearly the support remains there but this the the daylight has been growing over time and this the question now is does this represent a potential Breaking Point uh the president does have a close personal and yes even political relationship with Jose Andre that statement that was released last night.

Came after a one-on-one conversation between the president Andre and and Andre statement also going on to say that this is not an isolated incident we know that virtual meeting that happened between National Security team at the White House and their Israeli counterparts to discuss the Rafa Invasion the potential ground Invasion.

That the US has been so strongly warning against and seeking alternatives for the politics of course are also Inseparable here Andre and we have two fresh reminders of the political toll on the administration at this point one last night the president holding a private meeting with a number of Muslim leaders our reporting includes the fact that one.

Of those a Palestinian man left very shortly after beginning that meeting because uh he said there are not other Palestinians represented here there was also we should mention primary elections last night across the country where once again we saw in two states Connecticut and Rhode Island the uncommitted vote in double digit percentage uh points in.

Wisconsin as well uh 8% of the vote going to an uncommitted that was a point uh where some of those who had been leading this in other states had focused their efforts and so the White House keeping close tabs on this as well Andrea and there's a political Fallout of course also for prime minister Netanyahu R we saw the Israeli police.

Clashing with protesters um I can't recall them getting that close to Net's home and it was a big protest last night yeah Andre this was really striking over the last couple of days we have seen the largest protests in this country since October 7th you'll remember 2023 up until the Hamas terror attack was a year of mass protests all.

Over Israel people demonstrating against prime minister netanyahu's plans to weaken the Israeli Supreme Court now they are demonstrating calling for early elections and they are calling for a ceasefire deal to release the hostages now the Israeli police say this demonstration in Jerusalem near netanyahu's residents turned into a riot.

They used pretty serious tactics charging police horses into the crowd at one point firing water cannons but it goes to show the real real political heat in this country right now Netanyahu is a master of withstanding pressure both internationally from the United States from the UN from other parts of the International Community but also.

Domestically he does have a majority in Parliament it's a majority that includes the Israeli far right it includes a number of census lawmakers who joined his government on an Emer basis after the start of the war so there is nothing that means Netanyahu has to go to elections anytime soon but a majority of this country according to polls wants.

That to happen Andrew and I wanted Before I Let You Go Raph I also wanted to play um a little bit of Richard angle interviewing one of the seven I think she's an Australian woman who we had seen in a number of other places as well on world Central Kitchen operations this was from March 7th this is zie from FR come from a hunger point of view how do.

You do you see the situation in Gaza right now the situation in Gaza is as we all know incredibly bad um it's going to require all of us working together um making efforts as these any way possible to bring meals into Gaza and she is R uh I think she's from Australia had a family a number of children just just one of the.

Seven that's right Andrea yeah zi frankum she was an experienced Aid worker our colleague Richard Engle speaking to her there on the runway of a Jordanian Airbase where she was helping to organize some of those Aid drops food being dropped by Parachute into Northern Gaza uh we have seen just an absolute outpouring of grief at the deaths of all.

Seven of these Aid workers uh but especially zomie frankum she was very high-profile we are also learning today the identity of the one US Canadian Aid worker his name was Jacob Flickinger 33 years old Andrea well we grieve for all of them and um you know and all of their colleagues who've been working all over the world and in Puerto Rico you know.

During the Hurricanes we've seen them in Ukraine in Conflict zones coming up with unique ways of delivering food um despite being in war zones and in other natural disasters hey everyone MSNBC has a new and improved app you'll get realtime alerts and Analysis live blogs in-depth essays video highlights and the best 2024 election coverage.

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