Critics: Israel's officer sacking after aid worker deaths not enough

The Israeli military announced on Friday it plans to remove two officers from their posts following the fatal attack on employees of the aid organization World Central Kitchen (WCK) in the Gaza Strip, but some critics remain unimpressed.

UN Secretary General António Guterres, speaking in New York on Friday, called for a fundamental change in strategy by the Israeli military.

He acknowledged that Israel admitted its responsibility for the deaths of seven aid workers on Monday and had sacked some responsible, but said "the essential problem is not who made the mistakes, it is the military strategy and procedures in place that allow for those mistakes to multiply time and time again.

"Fixing those failures requires independent investigations and meaningful and measurable change on the ground."

World Central Kitchen meanwhile reacted to the news of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officer sackings with a statement demanding an independent commission into the deaths.

"The IDF has acknowledged its responsibility and its fatal errors in the deadly attack on our convoy in Gaza. It is also taking disciplinary action against those in command and committed to other reforms. These are important steps forward," it said.

"However it is also clear from their preliminary investigation that the IDF has deployed deadly force without regard to its own protocols, chain of command and rules of engagement. Without systemic change, there will be more military failures, more apologies and more grieving families."

Poland's Foreign Ministry has handed a note of protest to Israel's ambassador in the country and urged Israel to investigate the soldiers responsible for the attack under criminal law.

One of the seven World Central Kitchen aid workers killed by Israel was a Polish citizen.

Israeli Ambassador Yacov Livne had apologized for the attack, Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Szejna said on Friday after the meeting.

"This was not an act of war, it was murder," Szejna said.

Poland is also demanding compensation for the family of the aid worker who was killed.

In the wake of attack, Livne reacted to a post by a right-wing Polish opposition politician - in which he described Israel's behaviour in the Gaza Strip as a war crime - with accusations of anti-Semitism.

The Foreign Ministry rejected Livne's accusations. "Criticism of Israel's leadership and its armed forces by the public or the Polish government in connection with (...) this murder of seven volunteers is not an expression of anti-Semitism," Szejna asserted.

Livne wrote on social media platform X on Friday that he had expressed his deep regret and sincere apologies for the death of the volunteers.

Israeli Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi decided to dismiss a responsible commander and the chief of staff of the responsible brigade, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) statement said. Media reports said other commanders had been given a warning.

An army investigation published on Friday said the incident was "a serious failure." The aid convoy was attacked on the suspicion that two armed members of the Palestinian militant organization Hamas were in a vehicle, the investigation said.

The Israeli forces did not recognize the vehicles as belonging to the aid organization, although they were clearly marked. The attacks were a "serious violation of the army's orders and standard operating procedures," the report added.

"The results of the investigation indicate that the incident should not have happened."

The incident, which in addition to the Pole, killed three Britons, a man with dual US and Canadian citizenship, an Australian worker and their Palestinian driver, led to renewed calls from Britain for the Jewish state to take more care with civilians in the Palestinian coastal enclave of Gaza.

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) even called for an end to arms exports to Israel in a non-binding resolution that made no mention of Hamas and its terrorist attack on Israel in October, which prompted the war on Hamas-controlled Gaza.

The step is necessary to "prevent further violations of international humanitarian law and violations and abuses of human rights," according to the text adopted by the body in Geneva.

The resolution was supported by 28 countries, including Belgium, Finland and Luxembourg. Thirteen countries abstained from voting, including France and the Netherlands.

Germany was one of the six countries to vote against the resolution. German Ambassador to the UN in Geneva Katharina Stasch said that as well as not mentioning Hamas, the resolution denied Israel the right to self-defence and contained prejudgements against Israel.

Israeli Ambassador Meirav Eilon Shahar condemned the resolution.

"How many more dead Israelis do we need to condemn Hamas?" she asked the council. "A vote in favour is a vote in favour of Hamas."

Israel meanwhile wants to take "immediate steps" to increase humanitarian aid for the civilian population in the besieged Gaza Strip, the Israeli war Cabinet announced early on Friday.

This came after a telephone conversation between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The White House said Biden had called on Netanyahu to take a series of "specific, concrete and measurable steps" to reduce the suffering of the people in the Gaza Strip and increase protection for volunteers.

Future US policy on Gaza depends on how Israel implements these measures, Biden warned, in the latest spat between the two nations.

Following this, the Israeli port of Ashdod and the Erez border crossing would be temporarily opened to aid, making it easier for it to reach the north of the Gaza Strip, which is particularly affected by food shortages, Israel said.

Aid supplies coming from Jordan via the Kerem Shalom border crossing would also be increased.

This is none too soon, according to the UN's Guterres, who said on Friday at the UN that Gaza's children are "dying for lack of food and water. This is incomprehensible, and entirely avoidable."

According to Guterres, "more than half the population – over a million people – are facing catastrophic hunger. Nothing can justify collective punishment for the Palestinians."