IDF dismisses two senior officers, censures 3 others in mistaken attack on aid workers

• Published date: 05 April 2024
• Author: YONAH JEREMY BOB
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

According to the IDF, there were seven different action points in the incident

Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari explaining the findings of investigation into the incident in which seven employees of the WCK humanitarian aid organization were killed, (CREDIT: IDF spokesperson's unit)

The drone unit saw multiple suspicious actions, starting after 10 p.m. Monday.

First, the drone unit said it saw a Hamas terrorist climb onto one of the trucks and fire in the air at what it called action point two.According to the IDF, this tactic is frequent and is used by Hamas to send signals to other Hamas fighters in the area regarding his position.

At action point three, the convoy split up.

At action point four, the convoy entered a hangar, which obscured which vehicles might be going in and out and who might be in the vehicles compared to who was in the vehicles before entering the hangar.

IDF unable to reach aid workers

In the first four action points, the IDF drone unit refrained from attacking the aid trucks, because they questioned their commanders and were ordered by Division 162 Brig. Gen. Itzik Cohen not to, despite a suspicion of Hamas terrorists being involved. IDF tried to call aid workers, was unable to reach them.

At the fifth action point, the aid trucks had left the hangar.

As the events developed, the IDF tried to call the aid workers involved in the field and was unable to reach them.Next, the IDF called the WCK headquarters. The WCK headquarters tried to call its own aid workers in the field, but they did not answer.When vehicles left the hangar, the IDF drone unit believed that these were not the same vehicles and thought that these were Hamas vehicles or that around four Hamas operatives had joined or taken over the convoy.According to the IDF, attacking the trucks after all of this was a mistaken identity issue but could not lead to criminal charges.Accordingly, the drone unit believed the order not to attack no longer applied.Around a kilometer later, around 11:09 p.m., the drone unit believed it had the right to engage the trucks.Also, the drone unit had thermal imaging that did not see the WCK aid worker sign posted on the roof of the trucks.When the drone unit attacked three separate times in succession, it believed that the "coast was clear" completely to attack what it thought were clearly Hamas targets.

Colonel and Major involved in attack were fired

The IDF said that even though this could not be a criminal issue, Col. (res.) Yair Zukerman and a...