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String of Israeli Errors Led to Fatal Attack on Aid Convoy, Military Says

“It’s a serious event that we’re responsible for, and it shouldn’t have happened,” Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said of the strike that killed seven World Central Kitchen workers.

United Nations staff members inspecting a car used by World Central Kitchen workers that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza this week.Credit...Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

April 5, 2024Updated 8:10 a.m. ET

A series of Israeli failures, including a breakdown in communication and violations of the rules of engagement, led to the deadly airstrikes that killed seven humanitarian aid workers in Gaza this week, senior Israeli military officials said on Friday.

The military officials said that the officers who ordered the strikes on the aid convoy had violated the army’s protocols, in part by opening fire on the basis of insufficient and erroneous evidence that a passenger in one of the cars was armed.

The attack prompted a wave of international outrage and renewed questions about whether Israeli forces on the ground in Gaza properly vet targets before unleashing deadly force. Israel has come under increasing pressure over the high civilian death toll in its six-month war in Gaza. The strikes on the aid workers prompted President Biden for the first time to say he would leverage U.S. aid to influence the conduct of the war against Hamas.

On Friday, the Israeli military announced that two officers — a reserve colonel and a major — would be dismissed from their positions. Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the Israeli military’s chief of staff, had also decided to formally reprimand the head of Israel’s southern command, as well as two other senior officers, the military said in a statement.

The military said the “grave mistake” had stemmed from “a serious failure due to a mistaken identification, errors in decision-making, and an attack contrary to the Standard Operating Procedures.”

“It’s a tragedy,” Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military’s chief spokesman, told reporters in a briefing on Thursday night. “It’s a serious event that we’re responsible for, and it shouldn’t have happened.”

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