The Israeli army admitted Friday that an attack on the World Central Kitchen in the Gaza Strip that killed seven aid workers "should not have occurred."
The army acknowledged an investigation of the attack that "those who approved the strike were convinced that they were targeting armed Hamas operatives and not WCK employees."
"The event occurred on April 1, 2024, during an operation to transfer humanitarian aid from the WCK to the Gaza Strip," it said in a statement.
It added that "the investigation found that the forces identified a gunman on one of the aid trucks, following which they identified an additional gunman."
"After the vehicles left the warehouse where the aid had been unloaded, one of the commanders mistakenly assumed that the gunmen were located inside the accompanying vehicles and that these were Hamas terrorists," it said.
The army claimed investigation results showed its forces "did not identify the vehicles in question as being associated with World Central Kitchen."
Three vehicles belonging to the World Central Kitchen were clearly marked with logos and signs on their roofs indicating their identity, according to witnesses and images circulated after they were targeted by Israeli aircraft late Monday.
"Following a misidentification by the forces, the forces targeted the three WCK vehicles based on the misclassification of the event and misidentification of the vehicles as having Hamas operatives inside them, with the resulting strike leading to the deaths of seven innocent humanitarian aid workers," according to the Israeli army.
The army admitted that "the strikes on the three vehicles were carried out in serious violation of the commands and Israeli army Standard Operating Procedures."
It claimed that "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."
It noted that "after being presented with, and considering the investigation's findings, the Israeli army Chief of the General Staff decided that the following command measures will be taken: the brigade fire support commander, an officer with the rank of major, will be dismissed from his position. The brigade chief of staff, an officer with the rank of colonel in reserve, will be dismissed from his position."
"Additionally, the brigade commander and the 162nd Division commander will be formally reprimanded. The IDF Chief of Staff decided to formally reprimand the commander of the Southern Command for his overall responsibility for the incident," it said.
Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir opposed holding the officers responsible for the killings accountable and called for their support.
The leader of the far-right Jewish Party described the decision as "abandoning soldiers in the midst of war, and a serious mistake indicating weakness."
"Even if there were mistakes in identifying the identity, in war, soldiers should be supported, not brought before a court-martial," he added on X.
The army targeted the convoy in the city of Deir al-Balah in the middle of the Gaza Strip, resulting in the deaths of seven foreign employees holding Australian, Polish, British, American, Canadian, and Palestinian nationalities.
Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack in early October by the Palestinian group, Hamas, killed less than 1,200 people.
More than 33,000 Palestinians have since been killed and 75,577 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.
The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which last week asked it to do more to prevent famine in Gaza.
