(Sydney) The attack that cost lives on 1er The killing of seven aid workers in the Gaza Strip in April was the result of “serious failings” by the Israeli military, according to an Australian government inquiry report released on Friday.
The investigation, led by former air chief Mark Binskin, was ordered by Canberra following the death of an Australian woman in the series of three strikes, which also killed three Britons, an American-Canadian, a Pole and a Palestinian.
The seven victims worked for the American organization World Central Kitchen (WCK), founded by the famous chef José Andrés. The Israeli army has acknowledged a series of errors at various levels.
The attack “was not knowingly or deliberately directed against WCK,” the report states, recalling that the internal investigation conducted by the Israeli army concluded that there was a “serious error resulting from a serious failure due to misidentification, errors in decision-making and violations of the rules of engagement and standard operating procedures.”
According to the document, the Israeli military mistook the humanitarian convoy for a convoy of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas because of the presence on the roof of one of the trucks of an armed security guard apparently working for WCK.
“In this incident, it appears that the Israel Defense Forces’ controls failed, leading to errors in decision-making and misidentification,” the report said.