Israeli military sacks two officers over strikes on WCK aid convoy
Israeli military claims its officers believed they were targeting Hamas fighters when they killed charity workers.
The Israeli military says it has dismissed two officers for their roles in an attack in central Gaza that killed seven aid workers, saying they had mishandled critical information and violated the army’s rules of engagement.
The military said in a report on Friday that an internal investigation “found that the forces identified a gunman on one of the aid trucks” which led to the discovery of another.
The United States-based charity, World Central Kitchen (WCK), whose convoy was hit said Israel’s “apologies for the outrageous killing of our colleagues represent cold comfort”.
WCK CEO Erin Gore also said “Israel needs to take concrete steps to assure the safety of humanitarian aid workers. Our operations remain suspended”.
The Israeli military said that 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”.
It called the strike on the aid vehicles “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”.
Reporting from occupied East Jerusalem, Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands pointed out that the report by the Israeli military makes no mention of any potential legal prosecutions against the dismissed officers.
“That might come in the future, but it’s certainly not contained in the report,” he said. “What we’re getting is dismissals and military reprimands. But that’s not necessarily justice for the family and friends of the people who died.”
From the brigade that killed the charity workers, the fire support commander holding the rank of major, and the chief of staff holding the rank of colonel in reserve were dismissed, the Israeli military said.
WCK called for the creation of an independent commission to investigate the killing of its colleagues, saying the Israeli military “cannot credibly investigate its own failure in Gaza”.
“It’s not enough to simply try to avoid further humanitarian deaths, which have now approached close to 200,” said WCK founder Jose Andres. “All civilians need to be protected, and all innocent people in Gaza need to be fed and safe. And all hostages must be released.”
-al jazeera
