The Israeli military has dismissed two officers and reprimanded three others 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” that led to the discovery of another.
“It’s a serious event that we are responsible for, and it shouldn’t have happened, and we will make sure that it won’t happen again,” military spokesman Daniel Hagari told reporters.
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”, and it called for an independent investigation into the attack.
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 a warehouse where WCK 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.”
Its report 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”.
“It’s very important that Israel is taking full responsibility for this incident. It’s also important that it appears to be taking steps to hold those responsible accountable,” said United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.
He said Israel must “prioritise the protection of civilians” and steps should be taken to ensure something like this never happens again.
Reporting from occupied East Jerusalem, Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands pointed out that Israel’s report makes no mention of any potential prosecutions against the dismissed officers.
