The Israeli military fired two senior officers and reprimanded three commanders in the killing of seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen this week in Gaza, saying the airstrikes were a "grave mistake" and citing critical errors in communication and vioations of the army's rules of engagement.
"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," the Israel Defense Forces said Friday in a report posted on the social media platform X.
The military said a major and a colonel were fired and three other commanders were disciplined.
"The IDF takes seriously the grave incident that claimed the lives of seven innocent humanitarian aid workers. We express our deep sorrow for the loss and send our condolences to the families and the WCK organization," the army said.
The aid workers - from the United Kingdom, Poland, Australia, Canada and their Palestinian driver - were killed Monday when their convoy was struck while ferrying supplies to Palestinians in Gaza where fighting has continued unabated between Israel and Hamas since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
The report said the officers "mistakenly" thought Hamas militants were traveling in the aid workers' vehicles. Two gunmen were identified by the army at the warehouse where the WCK workers unloaded the supplies.
"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. The forces did not identify the vehicles in question as being associated with WCK," the IDF said.
The army targeted the three WCK vehicles "based on the misclassification of the event and misidentification of the vehicles as having Hamas operatives inside them," the report said.
"The investigation's findings indicate that the incident should not have occurred. Those who approved the strike were convinced that they were targeting armed Hamas operatives and not WCK employees," it continued.
Chef José Andrés, the founder of the global food charity, had called for an independent investigation into the killing of the aid workers, saying the Israeli military "systematically" targeted them.
The organization said the IDF taking "responsibility for its fatal errors" and disciplining the officers were "important steps forward," but also noted that the apologies were "cold comfort" for the victims' families.
"It's not enough to simply try to avoid further humanitarian deaths, which have now approached close to 200," Andrés said in a statement released by WCK in response to the report. "All civilians need to be protected, and all innocent people in Gaza need to be fed and safe. And all hostages must be released."
"Their apologies for the outrageous killing of our colleagues represent cold comfort," said WCK CEO Erin Gore. "It's cold comfort for the victims' families and WCK's global family.Israel needs to take concrete steps to assure the safety of humanitarian aid workers. Our operations remain suspended.
The killing of the aid workers turned the spotlight on allegations that the Israeli military has been prosecuting a war against Hamas without regard to casualties among the Palestinian population in Gaza.
President Joe Biden, who has been criticized for his handling of the war in Gaza, called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to demand an "immediate ceasefire" in Gaza and condemned the attacks on the humanitarian aid workers.
In the phone call, according to a readout released by the White House, Biden "made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers."
