Tensions are growing in the White House in advance of a Thursday morning call between President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a recent report.
The call comes after the World Central Kitchen (WCK) nonprofit founded by celebrity chef Jose Andres announced Tuesday that it is pausing all its operations in Gaza after seven of its food aid workers — including a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen — were killed by an Israeli airstrike.
The group said its team was "traveling in a deconflicted zone in two armored cars branded with the WCK logo and a soft skin vehicle" in central Gaza on Monday when it came under fire, resulting in the deaths of the American, a Palestinian worker and others from Australia, Poland and the United Kingdom.
Biden administration officials told Axios that the president was "outraged" over the airstrike as a call is scheduled to go forward between the president and Netanyahu Thursday morning.
"Biden is p----d," one official told the outlet. "The temperature regarding Bibi is very high."
"I think you could sense the frustration in that statement yesterday," another official said to Axios.
White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson wrote on X that "we are heartbroken and deeply troubled by the strike that that killed WCKitchen aid workers in Gaza" and the U.S. urges "Israel to swiftly investigate what happened."
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment, but has yet to receive a response.
Biden has also spoken out after the WCK made its announcement about the Israeli airstrike.
"I am outraged and heartbroken by the deaths of seven humanitarian workers from World Central Kitchen, including one American, in Gaza yesterday," Biden wrote in a statement. "They were providing food to hungry civilians in the middle of a war. They were brave and selfless. Their deaths are a tragedy."
"Even more tragically, this is not a stand-alone incident," the president added. "This conflict has been one of the worst in recent memory in terms of how many aid workers have been killed. This is a major reason why distributing humanitarian aid in Gaza has been so difficult – because Israel has not done enough to protect aid workers trying to deliver desperately needed help to civilians. Incidents like yesterday’s simply should not happen. Israel has also not done enough to protect civilians."
Fox News' Greg Norman and Kyle Morris contributed to this report.
