Israel fired two military commanders and reprimanded a third over a drone strike in Gaza that killed seven World Central Kitchen workers on Monday, saying they had mishandled critical information and violated the army’s rules of engagement.
Workers at the charity, which provides food aid in crisis and conflict zones, were killed when their convoy was attacked on Monday night.
Their convoy was repeatedly attacked by IDF missiles shortly after they oversaw the unloading of 100 tons of food brought to the Palestinian territory by sea.
According to the findings of an investigation into the incident, released today, the IDF said the attack “should not have happened.”
He discovered that the attacks were ordered based on a senior’s observation (from grainy footage) that someone in the convoy was armed.
This observation turned out to be false, military officials said, adding that it is possible that the passenger was simply carrying a bag instead of a weapon.
On Tuesday, damage is seen on one of the three cars hit in Monday’s attack.
“The findings of the investigation indicate that the incident should not have occurred,” the Israeli military said in its statement on the findings of the investigation.
“Those who approved the attack were convinced that their target was armed Hamas operatives and not WCK employees,” he said.
“The attack on the relief vehicles is a serious mistake resulting from a serious failure due to misidentification, errors in decision-making and an attack contrary to standard operating procedures,” the statement added.
It goes on to say that ‘after presenting to you and considering the findings of the investigation, the IDF Chief of Staff’:
- Fire the brigade fire support commander, an officer with the rank of major.
- Remove the brigade chief of staff, an officer with the rank of colonel in reserve
- Previously reprimanded the brigade commander and the commander of the 162nd Division.
The statement added that “the IDF Chief of Staff decided to formally reprimand the Southern Command commander for his overall responsibility in the incident.”
Since Monday, news of the airstrikes has reverberated around the world, with the United Kingdom, the United States and other allies of Israel expressing anger over the attacks.
Among the dead were three British citizens, an Australian, a Polish citizen, a dual American-Canadian citizen and a Palestinian.
The British victims were former Royal Marines James Henderson and John Chapman and former Army soldier James Kirby.
They were providing security for four aid workers, including Australian Lalzawmi ‘Zomi’ Frankcom, Polish citizen Damian Sobol, American-Canadian citizen Jacob Flickinger and Palestinian Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha.
The seven dead were distributing food that had arrived in Gaza through a newly established maritime corridor.
World Central Kitchen (WCK) said it had coordinated its movements with the military and that the vehicles were marked with the organization’s logo.
“It was a direct attack against clearly marked vehicles whose movements were known to” the Israeli army, WCK founder and celebrity chef José André said Wednesday.
World Central Kitchen published photographs of the seven victims
James ‘Jim’ Henderson, 33, from Cornwall, served in the Royal Marines for six years.
John Chapman, 57, from Dorset, served in the special boat squadron.
James Kirby, 47, was a former sniper who served in Bosnia and Afghanistan.
Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, 27, had worked for World Central Kitchen as a driver and translator since the beginning of the year.
The Australian victim was Lalzawmi ‘Zomi’ Frankcom (pictured), 43, from Melbourne.
Jacob Flickinger was 33 years old and a dual citizen of the United States and Canada.
Polish national Damian Soból, 35, was known as a cheerful, friendly and quick-witted manager who quickly rose through the ranks at World Central Kitchen.
The investigation was led by Yoav Har-Even, a retired general.
Under what spokesmen said were Israeli military rules, targets must be visually identified as threats for multiple reasons before they can be attacked.
But the investigation determined that a colonel had authorized the series of deadly drone attacks on the convoy based on a major’s observation (from grainy drone camera footage) that someone in the convoy was armed.
That observation turned out to be false, military officials said.
Har-Even’s findings mark a shameful admission by Israel, which faces growing accusations from key allies of not doing enough to protect Gaza civilians, as well as other protected groups, including aid workers and journalists, from its war.
According to the United Nations, more than 220 aid workers have died in the conflict.
The findings are also likely to renew skepticism about the Israeli military’s decision-making as it continues its mission to eradicate Hamas following the October 7 terrorist attacks carried out by the group.
Palestinians, aid groups and human rights organizations have accused Israeli forces of recklessly shooting at civilians throughout the conflict, a charge Israel denies.
“It’s a tragedy,” army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters.
“It is a serious event that we are responsible for and it should not have happened and we will ensure that it does not happen again.”
As pressure mounts on Israel to be held accountable, Hagari and other officials on Thursday night shared with reporters the results of the military’s unusually rapid and detailed investigation.
It was unclear whether the punishments and apologies would calm the international outcry over the deaths of the World Central Kitchen workers or reassure international aid groups that it was safe to resume operations in Gaza, where nearly a third of the population is homeless. verge of death starvation.
The investigation found two main areas of irregularities.
He blamed officers for not reading messages alerting troops that charity workers would be transported by cars, not aid trucks, out of the warehouse where aid was being distributed. As a result, the cars that were attacked were misidentified as carrying militants.
The military also blamed a major who identified the target of the attack and a colonel who approved the attack for acting on insufficient information.
The military said the order was given after one of the passengers inside a car was identified as a gunman. He said troops became suspicious because an armed man had been seen on the roof of one of the delivery trucks on the way to the warehouse.
The army showed journalists images of the gunman firing his weapon while riding on top of one of the trucks.
After the aid was delivered to a warehouse, an officer thought he saw an armed man in one of the cars. It turned out that the passenger was not carrying any weapon; The military said he may have only been carrying a bag.
The military said he initially crashed into a car. As people were getting into a second car, it also crashed into that vehicle. The same thing happened when the survivors got into a third car. Army officials claimed that drone operators could not see that the cars were marked with the words “World Central Kitchen” because it was night.
The military could not say exactly where communication about the convoy plans had broken down.
The military declined to answer questions about whether similar rules of engagement violations had occurred during the war.
‘Let’s be very clear. “This is tragic, but it is not an anomaly,” Scott Paul of the humanitarian group Oxfam said Thursday at a briefing with other aid organizations before the results of Israel’s investigation were made public.
“The killing of aid workers in Gaza has been systemic.”
This is breaking news. More to continue…