Israeli military admits 'grave mistake' in killing of seven aid workers
The Israeli military has said that its soldiers made a “grave mistake” in targeting a humanitarian convoy with a series of air strikes that killed seven international aid workers on Monday.
The deaths of workers for the World Central Kitchen, which included three Britons, an Australian, a Pole, a Palestinian and a dual US-Canadian citizen have been widely denounced by governments and organisations.
The aid workers were killed in three consecutive strikes by Israeli drones on the WCK vehicles which were delivering 100 tonnes of food aid to a Deir al-Balah warehouse.
In response to a preliminary investigation into the attack by the Israeli army, the WCK demanded an "independent commission to investigate the killings", saying the Israeli military "cannot credibly" probe its own failure.
WCK CEO, Erin Gore added that Israel's apologies for the attack were "cold comfort for the victims’ families and WCK’s global family".
On Friday, the interim findings of the investigation revealed that the WCK had correctly alerted the army about its convoy, and that the vehicles were clearly branded with the organisation's logo, but this information had not been cascaded down the chain of command.