The Israeli military has dismissed two officers and reprimanded senior commanders after an inquiry into the killing of seven aid workers in an air strike in Gaza.
Inquiries found serious errors and breaches of procedure, the military said.
The inquiry found Israeli forces mistakenly believed they were attacking Hamas gunmen when drone strikes hit the three vehicles of the World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid group late on Monday night, and that standard procedures had not been followed.
“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 military said in a statement issued on Friday.
The killing of the seven aid workers, who included citizens of Britain, Australia and Poland, a dual US-Canadian national and a Palestinian colleague, triggered global outrage this week.
In a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, US President Joe Biden threatened a shift in US policy towards Israel unless it reduced harm to civilians in Gaza, which already depended on aid before the war and has seen hunger spread since fighting began six months ago.
Following the publication of the findings, World Central Kitchen demanded an independent commission to investigate the incident. “Without systemic change, there will be more military failures, more apologies and more grieving families,” according to a statement published by WCK.
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