TEL AVIV, April 5. /TASS/. Volunteers from the humanitarian organization World Central Kitchen (WCK) were killed in the Gaza Strip in an attack by Israeli servicemen who mistook them for armed radicals from the Palestinian Hamas movement, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.
"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," the army said.
According to the statement, the Israeli military spotted two armed men in a truck leaving a warehouse where humanitarian aid was being unloaded. As the vehicles left the warehouse, a commanding officer mistakenly assumed that the armed men were in the accompanying vehicles and that they were Hamas radicals. The Israeli servicemen did not realize that the vehicles belonged to WCK, and "following a misidentification by the forces, targeted the three WCK vehicles," killing seven employees of the humanitarian organization. "The strikes on the three vehicles were carried out in serious violation of the commands and IDF Standard Operating Procedures," the military added, noting that the results of the investigation were also presented to the WCK leadership, which expressed deep regret over the incident.
The army also said that the officers directly responsible for the strike would be dismissed from their posts and the commander of the Southern Command would be reprimanded. "After being presented with, and considering the investigation's fundings, the IDF Chief of the General Staff decided that the following command measures will be taken: the brigade fire support commander, an officer with the rank of major, will be dismissed from his position. The brigade chief of staff, an officer with the rank of colonel in reserve, will be dismissed from his position. Additionally, the brigade commander and the 162nd Division commander will be formally reprimanded. The IDF Chief of Staff decided to formally reprimand the commander of the Southern Command for his overall responsibility for the incident," the statement read.
Volunteers killed in the Gaza Strip
On April 2, World Central Kitchen, an organization dedicated to providing free meals to victims of various natural disasters, received reports that its staff were killed when their vehicle was hit while traveling south of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. Seven WCK workers were killed: a Palestinian, citizens of Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom, and a volunteer with dual US-Canadian citizenship. Israeli authorities expressed their condolences and promised a thorough investigation into the circumstances of the incident.