‘We’re sorry:’ Israel says attack on aid workers due to mistaken identity
Jerusalem, ISRAEL (EFE) – The Israeli military said Wednesday that the killings of seven food aid workers in airstrikes on Gaza had been the result of a mistaken identity and that “should not have happened.”
Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said in a video message that the strike that killed six World Central Kitchen aid workers and their Palestinian driver on Monday was a “grave mistake.”
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Their vehicles were struck by Israeli drones when they were traveling along a route south of Deir al-Balah as per a plan pre-approved and coordinated with the Israel Defense Forces.
The killings of aid workers sparked a global outcry with some of Israel’s closest allies, including the United States and the United Kingdom, strongly condemning the incident and demanding a probe.
The incident also prompted multiple charities to suspend food deliveries to displaced Palestinians who are on the brink of starvation.
“The IDF completed a preliminary debrief. I want to be very clear, the strike was not carried out with the intention of harming WCK aid workers,” Halevi said.
“It was a mistake that followed a mis-identification at night during the war in a very complex conditions. It shouldn’t have happened.”
The IDF Chief of the General said Israel was at war with Hamas and “not with the people of Gaza.”
“We are sorry for the unintentional harm to the members of WCK. We share the grief of the families as well as the entire World Central Kitchen organization from the bottom of our hearts.”
He said an independent body would investigate the incident thoroughly, promising that the probe would be completed “in the next coming days.”
The non-profit group said its team had been traveling in a convoy branded with the WCK logo, and despite coordinating movements with the IDF, it was hit as it was leaving a Deir al-Balah warehouse.
The workers had unloaded more than 100 tons of humanitarian food aid brought to Gaza by sea.
The seven killed were from Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom, a dual citizen of the US and Canada, and Palestine, WCK said. EFE