Israel-Gaza war: Israel sacks two over deadly strike on aid workers
The Israeli military has finalised its investigation into a drone strike in Gaza that killed seven aid workers, including Australian Zomi Frankcom. Follow for updates. Warning: Graphic
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Israel has acknowledged its forces made a “grave mistake” after seven aid workers with World Central Kitchen (WCK) were killed in a drone air strike.
The Israel Defence Force (IDF) said its combatants mistakenly believed they were attacking Hamas gunmen when an air strike hit the three vehicle convoy on earlier this week, killing Australian Zomi Frankcom, three Brits, two other foreign nationals and a Palestinian.
An unusually swift investigation detailed a catalogue of failings and errors in decision-making by Israeli troops, leading to the sacking of two military officers, Yoav Har-Even, a retired military officer who led the inquiry said on Friday local time.
The deaths of the humanitarian workers triggered a wave of international condemnation and shone a fresh spotlight on the dire conditions that Gaza’s besieged population is suffering from in the embattled enclave.
The WCK called for an independent commission to investigate the killings of its aid workers, and in a statement said “the IDF cannot credibly investigate its own failure in Gaza”.
WCK founder José Andrés said: “It’s not enough to simply try to avoid further humanitarian deaths, which have now approached close to 200.
“All civilians need to be protected, and all innocent people in Gaza need to be fed and safe. And all hostages must be released.”
Senior Israeli officers showed reporters clips from drone footage of what they said was a “Hamas operative” joining the US-based World Central Kitchen (WCK) convoy.
Although the roofs of the three aid workers’ vehicles were emblazoned with WCK logos, retired Israeli general Yoav Har-Even, who is leading the investigation, said the drone’s camera could not see them in the dark.
“This was a key factor in the chain of events,” he said.
The aid group has said its team was travelling in a “deconflicted” area at the time of the strike. “Despite co-ordinating movements with the (Israeli army), the convoy was hit as it was leaving the Deir al-Balah warehouse,” WCK said.
The army said aid was moved at night to avoid deadly stampedes by hungry Gazans. The aid workers’ deaths “outraged” US President Joe Biden who demanded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu order steps toward an “immediate ceasefire”.
Israel later said it would allow “temporary” aid deliveries into northern Gaza, where the United Nations has warned of imminent famine.
Har-Even admitted that “the three air strikes were in violation of standard operating procedures”.
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NETANYAHU TO ALLOW AID INTO GAZA
Israel will allow “temporary” aid deliveries via its border with the northern Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has announced, hours after a warning from US President Joe Biden.
The announcement comes as international pressure mounts on Israel after it took responsibility for a strike that killed seven employees of US-based charity World Central Kitchen, including an Australian.
“Israel will allow the temporary delivery of humanitarian aid through Ashdod and the Erez checkpoint,” the statement from the prime minister’s office said, referring to a port about 40km north of Gaza and a land crossing.
“This increased aid will prevent a humanitarian crisis and is necessary to ensure the continuation of the fighting and to achieve the goals of the war,” it added.
In a tense, 30-minute call with Netanyahu on Thursday at 12pm (3am AEDT), Mr Biden described the Israeli strike as “unacceptable and called for an “immediate ceasefire”.
He also “made clear that US policy” will be determined by Israel taking “specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers”, according to a White House statement.
Mr Biden has since demanded accountability and transparency from Israel regarding the attack, which Netanyahu has apologised for despite adding, “This happens in war.”
The incident, which is currently under an Israeli investigation, serves as the latest blow to Mr Biden and Mr Netanyahu’s already tense relationship amid the war in Gaza and the growing civilian casualties.
Mr Biden had privately called Netanyahu a “bad f***ing guy” in February, according to sources close to the president, and the two had infamously gone days without speaking following Mr Biden’s comments that the war in Gaza has gone “over the top.”
The US President also allegedly slammed the phone on Mr Netanyahu back in December while criticising the prime minister’s handling of the war and lack of progress on the hostage exchange deal.
While Mr Biden has reaffirmed that the US backs Israel in its war against Hamas terrorists, Democratic Senator Chris Coons said the attack on aid workers justifies a review of whether the US will place conditions for delivering aid to Israel.
“I think we’re at that point,” Mr Coons, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CNN.
“I think we’re at the point where President Biden has said — and I have said and others have said — if Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister, were to order the IDF into Rafah at scale, they were to drop thousand pound bombs and send in a battalion to go after Hamas and make no provision for civilians or for humanitarian aid, that I would vote to condition aid to Israel.”
TENSIONS AT BOILING POINT BETWEEN US AND ISRAEL
Tensions have been rising between the two nations after the American President said he was “outraged” by the attack, accusing Israel of failing to protect civilians and aid workers.
An Australian was killed in the attack, which targeted a charity convoy, as well as three Britons, a Pole, an American-Canadian dual citizen, and a Palestinian.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Prime Minister said it was “a tragic case of our forces unintentionally hitting innocent people” and that “this happens in wartime”.
Tensions have increased between the United States and Israel over the conflict, especially as both leaders fight to stay in office amid increasing domestic pressures.
Gaza is on the verge of famine, with Oxfam calculating people are surviving on just 245 calories per day, or 12 per cent of the average daily intake for adults.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry reports nearly 33,000 Palestinians have been killed, and while its data doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants, it reports women and children make up approximately two-thirds of the dead.
Despite Mr Biden’s growing alarm about the treatment of civilians, America is maintaining its staunch support for Israel as it seeks revenge on Hamas over terror attacks in October.
CNN reports the two leaders will also discuss the potential sale of $US18bn ($A27bn) of F-15 fighter jets, which would shore up Israel’s aerial defences.
It’s unclear whether the new attack will influence America’s policy on the war, however, a US official quoted on political website Axios said: “Biden is p*ssed”.
NORTHERN WAR ‘LIKELY’ AFTER SYRIAN ATTACK
The Israeli army has suspended leave for its combat units amid the Gaza war and as tensions with Iran grew after a strike on Tehran’s consulate in Damascus.
The Israeli military also said that, after a “situational assessment, it was decided to increase manpower and draft reserve soldiers to the IDF Aerial Defense Array”.
As Israel has fought in Gaza since the Hamas attack of October 7, it has also stepped up strikes against Iranian targets and Tehran’s allies in Syria and Lebanon.
Israel has traded near-daily fire with Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters positioned along the Lebanese border since Hamas carried out its unprecedented attack.
Tensions have been further inflamed by Monday’s strike against the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital in which 16 people were killed.
The mounting regional violence means it is “unlikely a war in the north can be avoided”, Emmanuel Navon, a political-science professor at Tel Aviv University told AFP.
ISRAEL BLAMES HEZBOLLAH FOR AUSTRALIAN DEATH
An Australian soldier who was wounded in a blast in Lebanon was the victim of a Hezbollah bomb, the Israeli military claimed.
The Australian peacekeeper was one of three observers — the others were from Chile and Norway — and a Lebanese translator who were on foot patrol when the explosion occurred earlier this week in southern Lebanon’s Rmeish.
The IDF denied Hezbollah claims it was responsible and had ordered a drone attack of the area.
The IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, said in a post on X the UN peacekeepers were wounded by “an explosive device that had been planted by Hezbollah in the area”.
The United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO) said its members were wounded after a “shell exploded near their location”.
“Preliminary results of a Lebanese army investigation have found that the observers were wounded by a landmine,” the Lebanese official told AFP, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
The ongoing investigation by the Lebanese army and peacekeepers from the United Nations hadn’t determined who planted the landmine, and said others were found thar hadn’t exploded.
Israel and Hezbollah have been locked in cross-border skirmishes since the start of the war in Gaza.
“The member was undertaking a routine United Nations patrol to monitor activity near the Israeli-Lebanon border, and was accompanied by three United Nations military observers and an interpreter,” an Australian Defence spokesman said after the incident.
“The member sustained non-life threatening blast injuries, was transported to a health centre at a nearby military base for treatment and has now been released to recover.
“Defence is taking the appropriate steps to ensure the safety and welfare of the member.”
Andrea Teneti, a spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, said the “safety and security of UN personnel must be guaranteed”.
“All actors have a responsibility under international humanitarian law to ensure protection to non-combatants, including peacekeepers, journalists, medical personnel, and civilians,” Mr Teneti said on X.
“We repeat our call for all actors to cease the current heavy exchanges of fire before more people are unnecessarily hurt,” he said.
– with AFP
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