(Tel Aviv) The Israeli army said Friday it was targeting a “Hamas gunman” firing from the roof of one of the aid trucks when it killed seven aid workers in Gaza, admitting to series of “serious errors”.
These aid workers were killed Monday evening by three Israeli strikes launched in the space of four minutes on their convoy in the Gaza Strip, where Israel is at war against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
The team operating the drones behind the strikes made an “operational error in judgment of the situation” after spotting a “Hamas gunman” firing from the roof of one of the aid trucks that the collaborators of the American NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK) escorted, according to an internal army investigation.
PHOTO ABDEL KAREEM HANA, ASSOCIATED PRESS
People inspect one of the vehicles carrying the World Central Kitchen employees killed in Deir al-Balah on April 2.
The army, which refers to “violations of normal operating procedures”, also recognized that WCK had communicated its route plan, but the soldiers in charge of the strikes did not have it in hand.
At a press briefing at army headquarters in Tel Aviv, senior Israeli officers showed journalists drone footage showing the “Hamas agent” joining the WCK convoy traveling through Gaza during the night of Monday to Tuesday shortly after 10 p.m. (local time).
“We demand the creation of an independent commission responsible for investigating the murders of our colleagues,” said the NGO WCK in a press release.
“The Israeli military acknowledged that our teams followed all appropriate communications procedures. The Israeli army video shows no reason to fire on our convoy, which carried no weapons and posed no threat,” the NGO emphasizes.
For her, the Israeli army “cannot credibly investigate its own failure in Gaza”.
The army’s “apologies” for the deaths of the NGO’s collaborators “are little comfort,” declared the head of the NGO, Erin Gore, stressing in the press release that Israel must “take concrete measures to ensure the safety of humanitarian workers.”
“It is not enough to try to avoid the death of other humanitarian workers, whose number is now around 200,” said WCK founder José Andres, the famous American chef of Spanish origin. “All civilians must be protected,” he said in the statement.
Two dismissals
Large WCK logos adorned the roofs of the vehicles, but the drone’s camera could not see them in the darkness, said retired Gen. Yoav Har-Even, who is leading the investigation. “That was a key factor in the chain of events,” he said.
The death of the humanitarian workers provoked a wave of indignation, with US President Joe Biden asking Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to order an “immediate ceasefire” during a tense telephone call.
General Har-Even acknowledged that “the three airstrikes [avaient] been carried out in violation of normal operating procedures.
Those who approved them “were convinced that they were targeting armed Hamas agents, and not WCK employees”, indicates an army press release, General Har-Even having mentioned a confusion which led the command to think that the convoy vehicles “had been seized by Hamas.”
Two officers involved in this blunder, a reserve colonel and an active commander, will be dismissed, according to General Har-Even’s report.
The aid workers — three Britons, a dual Canadian, a Pole, an Australian and a Palestinian — were killed after supervising the unloading of a ship carrying 300 tonnes of food aid from Cyprus to a warehouse in inland.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN VIA THE CANADIAN PRESS
Canadian with dual nationalityJacob Flickinger
But as they drove south, at 11:09 p.m. (Israel time, 10:09 p.m. Gaza, 4:09 p.m. Eastern time) on the 1er April, the drone “hit one car and identified people getting out of the car and entering the second car,” General Har-Even said.
“They decided to hit her, which was against normal operating procedures. Then they hit the third car,” the officer continued. “They believed the vehicles were Hamas based on operational misjudgment and miscategorization,” he added.
Communication breakdown
” It’s a tragedy. This is a serious mistake for which we are responsible,” said Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, spokesperson for the Israeli army, speaking of “a mega event […] which should not have happened.
“We will make sure this never happens again,” he added.
This convoy traveled at night in particular to avoid crowds around food aid transports, which have degenerated several times into deadly clashes in Gaza.
The Israeli army has “successfully coordinated thousands of humanitarian aid convoys to Gaza,” Admiral Hagari said, also accusing Hamas of having hijacked aid trucks.
But according to General Har-Even, there was a breakdown in communication about the convoy in the military chain of command, which may have led to the strikes.
WCK had provided all the necessary information, but it was not transmitted, he added: “The biggest mistake is that (the drone team) did not have a coordination plan” between WCK and the army.
The general briefed WCK founder Jose Andres early Friday on the initial results of his investigation, before that information about the circumstances of the strikes was released more widely.
Mr. Andres called the attack a “targeted Israeli strike” against his staff. According to the UN, some 200 aid workers have been killed in Gaza in six months of war, almost three times more than in any other conflict in a year.
The Polish Deputy Foreign Minister said on Friday that he had asked Israel for “an investigation” for “murder”.
On Thursday, international NGOs warned of their near impossibility to work in Gaza, whether it concerns security or supplies blocked at the border.