April 5 (UPI) — Israel’s airstrike on a World Central Kitchen food aid convoy in Gaza killing seven humanitarian workers was carried out because a military commander thought two Hamas gunmen were aboard, the country’s military said Friday as it released the findings of an investigation.
But the probe, led by retired Israel Defense Forces chief Maj. Gen. Yoav Har-Even, said the attack on the three vehicles was a “serious violation” of the command structure and Standard Operation Procedures and should never have happened, IDF said in a news release.
The fire support commander and chief of staff of the brigade responsible have been fired and three senior commanders, including the head of Southern Command, face a formal reprimand.
The investigation found that forces had identified two gunmen on the aid vehicles and upon the convoy’s departure from the warehouse where it had offloaded a food shipment, one of the commanders mistakenly assumed that the gunmen were inside the vehicles and that these were Hamas terrorists.
Failing to identify the vehicles as belonging to WCK, the forces mistakenly targeted the three WCK vehicles “based on the misclassification of the event and misidentification of the vehicles as having Hamas operatives inside them.”
The report concludes the tragedy was a “grave mistake stemming from a serious failure due to mistaken identification, errors in decision-making, and an attack contrary to the SOPs,” notwithstanding that those who approved the strike were “convinced” that they were targeting armed Hamas operatives, not WCK employees.
The IDF shared its findings with WCK and foreign diplomats, prior to taking the report public.
Promising to learn from the incident, the IDF expressed “deep sorrow for the loss” and offered condolences to the families and the WCK organization.
“We consider the vital humanitarian activity of international aid organizations to be of utmost importance, and we will continue to work to coordinate and assist their activities while ensuring their safety and safeguarding their lives,” the IDF said.
WCK welcomed the IDF’s admission of fault, command-chain disciplinary action and pledges to incorporate the lessons into its future operations but reiterated its demand for an independent investigation saying the Israeli military’s apologies were “cold comfort for the outrageous killing of our colleagues.”
“We demand the creation of an independent commission to investigate the killings of our WCK colleagues. The IDF cannot credibly investigate its own failure in Gaza,” WCK said in a statement responding to the report.
“The IDF has acknowledged that our teams followed all proper communications procedures. The IDF’s own video fails to show any cause to fire on our personnel convoy, which carried no weapons and posed no threat.”
WCK founder Chef Jose Andres said simply trying to prevent further deaths of aid works, now close to 200, was inadequate response.
“All civilians need to be protected, and all innocent people in Gaza need to be fed and safe. And all hostages must be released,” he said.
