World Central kitchen aid workers: Israeli military fires two senior officers as report finds strike was in ‘violation of commands’

CNN
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The IDF fired two senior officers and reprimanded a high commander as it admitted a catalog of failures in a drone strike on an aid convoy in Gaza, together with that it killed aid employees who had survived an preliminary assault.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) mentioned Friday that “those who approved the strike were convinced that they were targeting armed Hamas operatives,” calling the assault “a grave mistake stemming from a serious failure due to a mistaken identification.”

It mentioned the strike was carried out in “serious violation of the commands and IDF Standard Operating Procedures,” and dismissed a serious and a colonel in reserve. Three different IDF officers have been formally reprimanded: the commanders of the brigade and division concerned, and the commander of the Southern Command, who bore “overall responsibility.”

Seven aid employees – three Britons, a Palestinian, a US-Canadian twin citizen, an Australian and a Pole – have been killed in Monday’s strikes on automobiles operated by the World Central Kitchen (WCK), setting off fury in these nations.

The IDF detailed in its preliminary findings a sequence of botched assessments and decision-making failures that led to the focused strikes on three automobiles carrying harmless aid employees.

Its forces “identified a gunman on one of the aid trucks, following which they identified an additional gunman,” the IDF mentioned, as the vans transported meals to a warehouse in Gaza. It didn’t present any extra particulars about that declare.

Later, as three WCK autos left the warehouse, a commander “mistakenly assumed that the gunmen were located inside the accompanying vehicles and that these were Hamas terrorists,” the report mentioned.

The IDF officers concerned “misidentified something slung over one of the passenger’s shoulders as a weapon,” however forces now imagine it was a bag, an IDF spokesperson instructed CNN Friday.

The spokesperson additionally mentioned that Israel’s surveillance drones “could not see the WCK logo on the vehicles at night.”

Some of the WCK employees in the primary automobile survived the preliminary strike and fled to the following automobile in the convoy, the spokesperson added, just for that car to even be focused.

WCK and the heads of many Western nations have referred to as for an impartial, third celebration investigation into the strikes, however Israel has dedicated solely to the interior inquiry launched Friday.

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Though it included a uncommon admission of guilt from the Israeli military, the IDF’s Friday assertion was transient and lacked an in depth rationalization of exactly how and why its instructions have been violated.

It is unlikely to be the ultimate phrase on a deadly assault that has hardened the ire of Western nations in the direction of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, and accelerated debates in a number of nations about whether or not military aid to Israel ought to be halted.

“The IDF cannot credibly investigate its own failure in Gaza,” WCK mentioned Friday in response to the preliminary findings. “Without systemic change, there will be more military failures, more apologies and more grieving families.”

The charity mentioned it’s “clear from their preliminary investigation that the IDF has deployed deadly force without regard to its own protocols, chain of command and rules of engagement.”

“Their apologies for the outrageous killing of our colleagues represent cold comfort,” WCK CEO Erin Gore mentioned. “It’s cold comfort for the victims’ families and WCK’s global family.”

US President Joe Biden referred to as the deaths of aid employees and the general humanitarian scenario in Gaza “unacceptable” in a name with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, including that US assist would depend upon “measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers.”

On Friday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has himself referred to as for a third-party inquiry, mentioned the US was reviewing Israel’s report “very carefully.”

“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 mentioned, including that “even more important is making sure that steps are taken going forward to ensure that something like this can never happen again.”