Israel says it was targeting ‘Hamas gunman’ when it killed Gaza aid workers
- The drone team who killed the aid workers made an ‘operational misjudgment’ after spotting a suspected Hamas gunman shooting from the top of one of the aid trucks
- Israel is firing the two brigade officers who ordered the strikes, a colonel and a major
Israel said on Friday it was targeting a “Hamas gunman” when it killed in Gaza seven aid workers whose deaths caused an international outcry, with its military admitting a series of “grave mistakes” and violations of its own rules of engagement.
The victims – an Australian, Britons, a North American, a Palestinian and a Pole – were killed in three air strikes over four minutes by an Israeli drone as they ran for their lives between their three vehicles, the military said.
Poland’s foreign ministry said it still cannot understand how such an incident could have occurred. It demanded a “criminal inquiry” into Monday’s events.
The drone team who killed the aid workers made an “operational misjudgment of the situation” after spotting a suspected Hamas gunman shooting from the top of one of the aid trucks they were escorting, an internal Israeli military inquiry found.
The two brigade officers who ordered the strikes, a colonel and a major, are being fired.
Senior Israeli officers showed reporters clips from drone footage of what they said was a “Hamas operative” joining the US-based World Central Kitchen (WCK) convoy.