Israeli military releases findings from probe into aid convoy strikes
The Israel Defense Forces has released the findings from its own investigation into the strikes that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza earlier this week.
The findings were presented yesterday to the IDF Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi. The IDF has dismissed two officers, reprimanded two commanders and reprimanded the senior commander responsible, it said in a statement this morning.
“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,” it said.
The incident has fueled calls for an independent probe and demands from the U.S. that Israel do more to allow aid into Gaza and protect humanitarian workers.
The IDF said that the investigation “found that the forces identified a gunman on one of the aid trucks, following which they identified an additional gunman. After the vehicles left the warehouse where the aid had been unloaded, one of the commanders mistakenly assumed that the gunmen were located inside the accompanying vehicles and that these were Hamas terrorists.”
The statement added: “The forces did not identify the vehicles in question as being associated with WCK. Following a misidentification by the forces, the forces targeted the three WCK vehicles based on the misclassification of the event and misidentification of the vehicles as having Hamas operatives inside them.”
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