Israel sacks military personnel after aid worker deaths

Israel’s Defence Force (the IDF) has sacked two military officers and reprimanded three others from the unit that killed seven aid workers in an airstrike on Monday.

The sackings follow an inquiry into the fatal strike which killed the aid workers, three of whom were British. Late on Thursday night, the IDF held a press conference for journalists in Tel Aviv outlining the conclusions of the initial inquiry, carried out by retired Major General Yoav Har-Even. This concluded that the military involved did not know of the arrangements between the World Central Kitchen charity and the IDF which allowed for food deliveries to be taken from a jetty to a warehouse. 

The inquiry also concluded that those operating the drones could not distinguish from the air that the cars belonged to the WCK charity as the stickers on top of the cars could not be seen at night. The IDF unit also mistook a man carrying a bag for a Hamas gunman who they thought had commandeered the cars. 

Believing the cars to have been taken over by Hamas soldiers, the military unit fired a Hermes 450 drone at one car. Some aid workers escaped into a second and then a third which were both bombed, leaving all dead. 

To call war zones chaotic is an understatement. Patchy radio signal, blurry videos, split-time decisions, paranoia, fear, enemy ploys and a kill-or-be-killed mentality combine to make mistakes common, yet no less deadly or egregious. 

The IDF’s dramatic decision to dismiss soldiers comes after US President Joe Biden’s half an hour call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday during which Biden demanded an “immediate ceasefire”. Biden then told reporters: “If we don’t see the changes that we need to see, there will be changes in our policy.”

“Right now, there is no higher priority in Gaza than protecting civilians, surging humanitarian assistance and ensuring the security of those who provide it. Israel must meet this moment.”

The UN claims that the bombing of aid workers “may amount to a war crime” while US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the White House is reviewing Israel’s initial inquiry. However,  a UN Security Council spokesman said there will be no American investigation into the incident. UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said the incident shows that Israel’s deconfliction system, which ensures the safety of charity and humanitarian workers in warzones, needs “major reform”. 

Until now, Israel has been stubborn in the face of international criticism and this is the first time its strongest ally – the US – has condemned its actions outright. With Biden saying that the highest priority is protecting civilians and ensuring humanitarian aid gets into Gaza, many are still wondering about the 134 hostages that were taken on October 7. 

Some have suggested that the outrage shown by the international community, and particularly that of the US, towards this tragedy is an example of shocking double standards. During the fall of Afghanistan, on 29 August 2021, a U.S. Hellfire missile struck a civilian car, killing 10 innocent people, seven of them children. The intention was to hit ISIS-K after a suicide bomb killed 10 US soldiers. It took weeks for the White House to label it a tragic mistake, long after General Mark Milley had called it a “righteous strike.”

Six months into this war, Hamas still has 134 hostages, five of whom are American. Some argue that Israeli military strategy must change, and it might. But we can be sure that Hamas is unlikely to change its strategy.

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