Blinken: US is reviewing Israel report on deadly strike of aid workers "very carefully" after receiving it

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken addresses a media conference after a joint EU-US-Armenia high-level meeting at EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on April 4. Johanna Geron/AP

The US received Israel’s report on the deadly strike on a World Central Kitchen convoy in Gaza and is “reviewing it very carefully,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday.

“It's very important that Israel is taking full responsibility for this incident. It's also important that it appears to be taking steps to hold those responsible accountable,” he said in remarks before departing Belgium.

“We'll be discussing its conclusions with Israeli officials and with humanitarian organizations in the days to come,” Blinken added. The top US diplomat noted that “even more important is making sure that steps are taken going forward to ensure that something like this can never happen again.”

Blinken earlier Friday called for an “independent, thorough, and fully publicized investigation” into the Israeli strike that killed seven aid workers. Blinken reiterated that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated to President Joe Biden that Israel would be "making further changes to its procedures to make sure that those who are providing assistance to people who so desperately need it in Gaza are protected.” 

“So we're going to be looking very carefully at what those steps are, how it achieves better deconfliction, better coordination, so that aid workers are protected,” he added