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Israel has admitted its forces made a “grave mistake” after seven aid workers with World Central Kitchen (WCK) were killed in a drone airstrike.
The Israel Defence Force (IDF) said its combatants mistakenly believed they were attacking Hamas gunmen when an air strike hit the three vehicle convoy on Monday night, killing three Britons, three other foreign nationals and a Palestinian.
An unusually swift investigation detailed a catalogue of failings and errors in decision-making by Israeli troops, leading to the sacking of two military officers, Yoav Har-Even, a retired military officer who led the inquiry said on Friday.
The deaths of the humanitarian workers triggered a wave of international condemnation and shone a fresh spotlight on the dire conditions that Gaza’s besieged population is suffering from in the embattled enclave.
The WCK called for an independent commission to investigate the killings of its aid workers, and in a statement said “the IDF cannot credibly investigate its own failure in Gaza”.
WCK founder José Andrés said: “It’s not enough to simply try to avoid further humanitarian deaths, which have now approached close to 200.
“All civilians need to be protected, and all innocent people in Gaza need to be fed and safe. And all hostages must be released.”
The UK’s foreign secretary Lord Cameron also urged for a “wholly independent review” to follow the initual inquiry into the killing of the aid workers.
He said: “We are carefully reviewing the initial findings of Israel’s investigations into the killing of WCK aid workers and welcome the suspension of two officers as a first step.
“These findings must be published in full and followed up with a wholly independent review to ensure the utmost transparency and accountability.”
According to the inquiry, there were two main areas of wrongdoing. Firstly, the officers failed to read messages telling them that cars, and not aid trucks, would be taking the charity away from the warehouse where the food aid was stored.
As a result, the cars that were targeted were misidentified as transporting members of Hamas.
The army also faulted a major who identified the strike target and a colonel who approved the strike, for acting with insufficient information. The army said the order was given after one of the passengers inside a car was identified as a gunman.
It said troops became suspicious because a gunman had been seen on the roof of one of the delivery trucks on the way to the warehouse.
The army showed reporters footage of the gunman firing his weapon while riding on top of one of the trucks. After the aid was dropped off at a warehouse, an officer thought he had spotted a gunman in one of the cars.
The passenger, it turned out, was not carrying a weapon and was most likely carrying a bag, the military said.
The army said it initially hit one car. As people scrambled away into a second car, it hit that vehicle as well. It did the same thing when survivors moved 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 army could not say exactly where the communication about the convoy’s plans had broken down.
Har-Even said: “The investigation’s findings indicate that the incident should not have occurred. Those who approved the strike were convinced that they were targeting armed Hamas operatives and not WCK employees.
“The strike on the aid vehicles is a grave mistake stemming from a serious failure due to a mistaken identification, errors in decision-making, and an attack contrary to the Standard Operating Procedures.”
As a consequence it has dismissed a brigade chief of staff with the rank of colonel and a brigade fire support officer with the rank of major, and issued formal reprimands to senior officers including the general at the head of the Southern Command.
More than 220 humanitarian workers have been killed in the conflict so far, according to the UN, and human rights groups have repeatedly accused Israeli forces of firing recklessly at civilians throughout the conflict — a charge Israel denies.
Responding to the inquiry, Scott Paul, humanitarian policy lead at Oxfam, said: “The World Central Kitchen attack is tragic, but it’s not an anomaly. The killing of aid workers in Gaza has been systemic.”
MP Diane Abbott tweeted: “Israel says the recent slaughter of 7 aid workers in Gaza due to “grave errors” To what does it explain the killing of over 200 aid workers since October?”
The UN Human Rights Office says that attacks against aid workers in Gaza “may amount to a war crime”.
Niki Ignatiou, senior humanitarian adviser at ActionAid UK, said: “Gaza is one of the deadliest places for aid workers in the world right now, which severely hampers the ability of staff to deliver aid to Gaza’s desperate population on the brink of famine. More than 200 aid workers, mostly Palestinians, have been killed over the last six months.
“Despite coordination with the authorities, UNRWA says its convoys have been hit on three separate occasions. In November three doctors at Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza, run by ActionAid’s partner Al-Awda, were killed after the building was hit by bombing. Humanitarian aid workers are not, and should never be, targets. Attacks on aid workers are completely unacceptable and a grave violation of international law.
“Our partners and colleagues in Gaza, most of whom have themselves been displaced and are hungry, are utterly exhausted after six months of working in incredibly dangerous conditions.
“What they and everyone else in Gaza desperately needs is a permanent ceasefire now: it is the only way to ensure aid on the scale required can make it to those in need safely and effectively, and to put a stop to the killing for good.”
Ori Givati, a former tank commander, who is advocacy director of Breaking the Silence, a group founded by Israeli veterans to document army abuses, said that the actions of the Israeli military were not “against standard operating procedure” as claimed by their statement.
He told The Independent the killing of innocents was “integral part of the way Israel fights in Gaza” and that it was “policy” to allow high levels of collateral damage.
“The standard operating procedures had led so far to killing of 12,000 children and thousands more innocent people with almost no investigations.
“Israel opened this investigation merely because this time the casualties were not Palestinians. Killings of innocents is not new to this war and is an integral part of the way Israel fights in Gaza for decades.”
Mr Givati told The Independent that he didn’t think Israel deliberately wanted to target WCK aid convoy itself, but Israeli policy “itself allows just high level of collateral damage… that allows this kind of killing’.”
“The tolerance for collateral damage is just insane. We are seeing incidents where in one bombing kills dozens of civilians. It is very important to understands that it is a policy to be tolerant to collateral damage.”
He said the other issue was impunity .“No only are there almost zero repurcussions usually there is support from ministers. It is only when the incident concerns foreign citizens being killed then there is more talk. But we are talking about a situation that takes place every day.”
The WCK earlier this week indentified all those who died after the IDF struck the convoy. Saifeddin Issam Ayab Abutaha, 25, of Palestine; Lalzawmi Frankcom, 43, of Australia; Damian Soból, 35, of Poland; Jacob Flickinger, 33, a US-Canadian dual citizen; along with UK citizens John Chapman, 57, James Henderson, 33, and James Kirby, 47.
The outcome of the investigation comes just a day after US president Joe Biden warned Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that US support for Israel would be determined by its efforts to protect civilians and aid workers.
Just hours after the two leaders conversed Israel agreed to reopen two border crossings into Gaza to increase the flow of humanitarian aid.
Source: independent.co.uk
