‘They are a target in his eyes’: IDF releases findings of what went wrong in strike that killed aid workers
The first strike was a case of false identity; the second and then the third were “grave mistakes”.
An Israeli investigation into the killing of seven aid workers, which has drawn outrage around the world, has found that incorrect assumptions, decision-making mistakes and violations of the rules of engagement had resulted in their deaths.
“The investigation’s findings indicate that the incident should not have occurred,” the IDF has said.
“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.”
Follow live: IDF sacks senior officials over aid worker killings
Three Britons – John Chapman, James Henderson and James Kirby – were killed in the series of airstrikes. They died alongside their colleagues, 35-year-old Damian Sobol from Poland, Australian Zomi Franckom, dual US-Canadian national Jacob Flickinger, and their young Palestinian driver Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha.
The Israeli military released the interim findings after a 72-hour investigation, having faced extreme pressure to explain why they killed the seven innocent aid workers.
It also said it was dismissing two senior officers, citing rules of engagement violations, and reprimanded three more.
The statement said “the strikes on the three vehicles were carried out in serious violation of the commands”.
John Chapman, James Henderson and James Kirby all died in the Israeli strike
‘Misjudgement’ and ‘misclassification’
In a series of briefings at the Ministry of Defence in Tel Aviv on Thursday night, the Israeli military informed ambassadors, foreign journalists and chef Jose Andres, the founder of World Central Kitchen. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself had only been briefed hours beforehand.
The IDF said: “Following a misidentification by the forces, the forces targeted the three WCK [World Central Kitchen] vehicles based on the misclassification of the event and misidentification of the vehicles as having Hamas operatives inside them, with the resulting strike leading to the deaths of seven innocent humanitarian aid workers.
“[The soldiers’] belief that the attacked vehicles were carrying Hamas gunmen was based on operational misjudgement and misclassification of the situation,” said Major General Har-Even.
“As a result, and based on the radio communication, we assessed the state of mind of the IDF Forces that conducted the strike was that they were striking cars that had been seized by Hamas.”
The conclusions reveal a tragic spiral of negligence, miscommunication and false assumptions that will only lead to further questions and concerns about overall military behaviour in a war that has already claimed thousands of innocent lives.
Sky News was shown part of the drone surveillance footage from that night and briefed by the IDF on the investigation.
Aid team were unloading ‘one of biggest shipments to date’
That Monday, a small team working for World Central Kitchen oversaw the unloading of the latest aid ship to arrive in Gaza from Cyprus – it was carrying 300 tonnes of food, one of the biggest shipments to date.
This was day one of what was to be a four-day operation, closely coordinated with the Israeli military and civilian authorities. Unlike the UN, the Israelis trust World Central Kitchen as “one of the good guys” and have worked with them to get more aid into Gaza, including via this sea route.
The blood-stained passports of three of the aid workers killed by Israel. Pic: AP
The team’s movements had been agreed with COGAT – the Israeli body responsible for the Gaza borders that had the identities of the humanitarian workers on the operation – details of their vehicles (although no number plates), their anticipated movements and contact details for World Central Kitchen on the ground and back in the US.
This part “was done correctly,” according to the investigation. But things broke down from there.
From COGAT, those details were then sent to the Israeli military’s Southern Command which would be operating armed-drone surveillance flights overhead. It is at this point in the chain of command that the IDF said details of the aid convoy “stopped somewhere… we don’t know where”.
The result of this is that the drone pilots and military cell, which would have flown previous missions already that evening, were not fully read in to the operation they were overseeing.
Timeline of events, according to the IDF
• At 10pm, eight aid lorries drove south down the coast road in Gaza from the pier constructed by World Central Kitchen to a warehouse being used by the charity.
• At 10.28pm, a drone operator spots an armed person on top of one of the lorries. He’s then seen opening fire, it’s thought to keep a crowd back.
COGAT is notified by the IDF and attempts to call the WCK staff on the ground. Failing to get hold of them, they call the WCK operations centre in Europe – they too have no luck.
• Some time between 10.28pm and 10.47pm, the convoy arrived at a warehouse.
• At 10.46pm, a second gunman joined the first, at which point the IDF cell assumed them to be Hamas. However, the drone is ordered not to strike because of the humanitarian mission.
“So in the operator’s eyes, there are armed guys next to a convoy but he has an order: you don’t fire on armed men when they’re next to an aid convoy,” the IDF said at the investigation briefing.
• At 10.55pm, four vehicles leave the warehouse. By now, there are two Hermes 450 armed drones monitoring the activity.
One of those vehicles turned north – which was not part of the agreed plan, the IDF said.
A drone monitored its arrival at a second hangar close by, at which point at least four people exit the car – they were deemed to be armed and members of Hamas. The surveillance footage, watched by Sky News, isn’t conclusive but they are carrying objects that could be interpreted as guns.
The other three vehicles – which we now know were carrying the seven aid workers – drove south after leaving the warehouse.
The drone operator believes they saw an armed person getting into one of the cars and that the aid workers had stayed at the warehouse.
A World Central Kitchen vehicle wrecked by an Israeli strike. Pic: AP
‘They are a target in his eyes’
The IDF said in their briefing: “So we have for sure two people that were identified with guns. And now there was a question and people said, maybe this is also a gun. You know, their vest, and they’re not sure, they’re trying to find out whether there are more people carrying guns… at this point, there is a misclassification… They are a target in his eyes, of the operator, mistake.”
It’s dark, not long before midnight, and the picture is unclear. It is now accepted that what was thought to be a gun could have been “a bag or something similar. We don’t know”.
In another twist of fortune, the large charity branding, stuck to the roofs of the cars to identify them, couldn’t be seen by the drones. “That is a lesson we all need to learn,” the IDF has conceded. “The cameras were unable to identify markings – they were not visible at night. This was a key factor.”
By now, the drone pilot and Brigade cell are operating on three assumptions: that Hamas fighters are in the vehicles, the innocent aid workers have remained with the lorries, and the humanitarian mission is over.
As they watch them drive away from the warehouse, towards the sea, an IDF Colonel and Major sign off the order to strike. There is no military lawyer present.
“Remember, in the minds of the [IDF] cell, the humanitarian workers had remained with trucks in hangar,” General Har-Even said in the briefing.
However, the investigation has concluded that there was not enough evidence to make the convoy a legitimate target.
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Netanyahu: ‘This happens in war’
• At 11.09pm, the first missile hits.
Two passengers are then seen running out towards the second car, further up the road.
• At 11.11pm, with no updated order to strike, a second missile is launched; it hits the second vehicle, cutting a hole straight through the charity logo and into the rear of the armoured car.
Again, some of the passengers are still alive and run towards the third vehicle.
• At 11.13pm, a third and final strike hits the remaining car. All seven aid workers are killed.
In the opinion of the IDF investigation, it was the decision to launch the second and third strikes that broke “operational procedure”. It was, in the words of the general overseeing the inquiry, “a grave mistake”.
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Ex-World Central Kitchen boss on aid worker deaths
‘We are responsible’
The IDF soldiers involved have been suspended from duty. The Military Advocate General is yet to decide whether a criminal case should be launched.
“It’s a tragedy, it’s a mistake, actually it’s not a mistake, it is a serious event that we are responsible for,” the IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.
“One thing we are sure of: there was no intentional harm here directed towards World Central Kitchen employees or other civilians.”
The body of one of the foreign aid workers from the World Central Kitchen. Pic: Reuters
On Wednesday afternoon the bodies were taken over the Rafah crossing into Egypt ahead of travelling home to be buried.
Following the killings, calls to suspend arms sales to Israel have grown significantly louder in the UK and US.
The findings, which reveal major failings in the IDF’s identification system and rules of engagement, will underline grave fears that hundreds, possibly thousands of civilians have been killed in Gaza as a result of similar errors. Their deaths would not have been investigated.
Donald Trump has announced a 10% trade tariff on all imports from the UK – as he unleashed sweeping tariffs across the globe.
Speaking at a White House event entitled “Make America Wealthy Again”, the president held up a chart detailing the worst offenders – which also showed the new tariffs the US would be imposing.
“This is Liberation Day,” he told a cheering audience of supporters, while hitting out at foreign “cheaters”.
Follow live: Trump tariffs latest
He claimed “trillions” of dollars from the “reciprocal” levies he was imposing on others’ trade barriers would provide relief for the US taxpayer and restore US jobs and factories.
Mr Trump said the US has been “looted, pillaged, raped, plundered” by other nations.
Pic: AP
His first tariff announcement was a 25% duty on all car imports from midnight – 5am on Thursday, UK time.
Mr Trump confirmed the European Union would face a 20% reciprocal tariff on all other imports. China’s rate was set at 34%.
The UK’s rate of 10% was perhaps a shot across the bows over the country’s 20% VAT rate, though the president’s board suggested a 10% tariff imbalance between the two nations.
It was also confirmed that further US tariffs were planned on some individual sectors including semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and critical mineral imports.
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Trump’s tariffs explained
The ramping up of duties promises to be painful for the global economy. Tariffs on steel and aluminium are already in effect.
The UK government signalled there would be no immediate retaliation.
Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “We will always act in the best interests of UK businesses and consumers. That’s why, throughout the last few weeks, the government has been fully focused on negotiating an economic deal with the United States that strengthens our existing fair and balanced trading relationship.
“The US is our closest ally, so our approach is to remain calm and committed to doing this deal, which we hope will mitigate the impact of what has been announced today.
“We have a range of tools at our disposal and we will not hesitate to act. We will continue to engage with UK businesses including on their assessment of the impact of any further steps we take.
“Nobody wants a trade war and our intention remains to secure a deal. But nothing is off the table and the government will do everything necessary to defend the UK’s national interest.”
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Who showed up for Trump’s tariff address?
The EU has pledged to retaliate, which is a problem for Northern Ireland.
Should that scenario play out, the region faces the prospect of rising prices because all its imports are tied to EU rules under post-Brexit trading arrangements.
It means US goods shipped to Northern Ireland would be subject to the EU’s reprisals.
The impact of a trade war would be expected to be widely negative, with tit-for-tat tariffs risking job losses, a ramping up of prices and cooling of global trade.
Research for the Institute for Public Policy Research has suggested more than 25,000 direct jobs in the UK car manufacturing industry alone could be at risk from the tariffs on car exports to the US.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) had said the tariff costs could not be absorbed by manufacturers and may lead to a review of output.
The tariffs now on UK exports pose a big risk to growth and the so-called headroom Chancellor Rachel Reeves was forced to restore to the public finances at the spring statement, risking further spending cuts or tax rises ahead to meet her fiscal rules.
Read more:
What do Trump’s tariffs mean for the UK?
The rewards and risks for US as trade war intensifies
A member of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), David Miles, told MPs on Tuesday that US tariffs at 20% or 25% maintained on the UK for five years would “knock out all the headroom the government currently has”.
But he added that a “very limited tariff war” that the UK stays out of could be “mildly positive”.
He said: “There’s a bit of trade that will get diverted to the UK, and some of the exports from China, for example, that would have gone to the US, they’ll be looking for a home for them in the rest of the world.
“And stuff would be available in the UK a bit cheaper than otherwise would have been. So there is one, not central scenario at all, which is very, very mildly potentially positive to the UK. All the other ones which involve the UK facing tariffs are negative, and they’re negative to very different extents.”
Israel is beginning a major expansion of its military operation in Gaza and will seize large areas of the territory, the country’s defence minister said.
Israel Katz said in a statement that there would be a large scale evacuation of the Palestinian population from fighting areas.
In a post on X, he wrote: “I call on the residents of Gaza to act now to remove Hamas and return all the hostages. This is the only way to end the war.”
He said the offensive was “expanding to crush and clean the area of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure and capture large areas that will be added to the security zones of the State of Israel”.
The expansion of Israel’s military operation in Gaza deepens its renewed offensive.
The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that had begun in January ended in March as Israel launched various air strikes on targets across Gaza.
The deal had seen the release of dozens of hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, but collapsed before it could move to phase two, which would have involved the release of all hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
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26 March: Anti-Hamas chants heard at protest in Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had already issued evacuation warnings to Gazans living around the southern city of Rafah and towards the city of Khan Yunis, telling them to move to the al Mawasi area on the shore, which was previously designated a humanitarian zone.
Israeli forces have already set up a significant buffer zone within Gaza, having expanded an area around the edge of the territory that had existed before the war, as well as a large security area in the so-called Netzarim corridor through the middle of Gaza.
This latest conflict began when Hamas launched an attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages.
The ensuing Israeli offensive has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Read more:
Father demands protection after Gaza aid workers’ deaths
Anti-Hamas chants heard at rare protest in Gaza
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Bodies of aid workers found in Gaza
Aid group Doctors Without Borders warned on Wednesday that Israel’s month-long siege of Gaza means some critical medications are now short in supply and are running out, leaving Palestinians at risk of losing vital healthcare.
“The Israeli authorities’ have condemned the people of Gaza to unbearable suffering with their deadly siege,” said Myriam Laaroussi, the group’s emergency coordinator in Gaza.
“This deliberate infliction of harm on people is like a slow death; it must end immediately.”
“Liberation day” was due to be on 1 April. But Donald Trump decided to shift it by a day because he didn’t want anyone to think it was an April fool.
It is no joke for him and it is no joke for governments globally as they brace for his tariff announcements.
It is stunning how little we know about the plans to be announced in the Rose Garden of the White House later today.
It was telling that we didn’t see the President at all on Tuesday. He and all his advisers were huddled in the West Wing, away from the cameras, finalising the tariff plans.
Follow the events of Liberation Day live as they unfold
Three key figures are central to it all.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is the so-called ‘measured voice’. A former hedge fund manager, he has argued for targeted not blanket tariffs.
Peter Navarro is Trump’s senior counsellor for trade and manufacturing. A long-time aide and confidante of the president, he is a true loyalist and a firm believer in the merits of tariffs.
His economic views are well beyond mainstream economic thought – precisely why he appeals to Trump.
The third key character is Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary and the biggest proponent of the full-throttle liberation day tariff juggernaut.
The businessman, philanthropist, Trump fundraiser and billionaire (net worth ranging between $1bn and $2bn) has been among the closest to Trump over the past 73 days of this presidency – frequently in and out of the West Wing.
If anything goes wrong, observers here in Washington suspect Trump will make Lutnick the fall guy.
What are Donald Trump’s tariffs, what is ‘liberation day’ and how does it all affect the UK?
And what if it does all go wrong? What if Trump is actually the April fool?
“It’s going to work…” his press secretary said when asked if it could all be a disaster, driving up the cost of living for Americans and creating global economic chaos.
“The president has a brilliant team who have been studying these issues for decades and we are focussed on restoring the global age of America…” Karoline Leavitt said.
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‘Days of US being ripped off are over’
Dancing to the president’s tune
My sense is that we should see “liberation day” not as the moment it’s all over in terms of negotiations for countries globally as they try to carve out deals with the White House. Rather it should be seen as the start.
Trump, as always, wants to be seen as the one calling the shots, taking control, seizing the limelight. He wants the world to dance to his tune. Today is his moment.
But beyond today, alongside the inevitable tit-for-tat retaliation, expect to see efforts by nations to seek carve-outs and to throw bones to Trump; to identify areas where trade policies can be tweaked to placate the president.
Even small offerings which change little in a material sense could give Trump the chance to spin and present himself as the winning deal maker he craves to be.
One significant challenge for foreign governments and their diplomats in Washington has been engaging the president himself with proposals he might like.
Negotiations take place with a White House team who are themselves unsure where the president will ultimately land. It’s resulted in unsatisfactory speculative negotiations.
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Treasury minister: ‘We’ll do everything to secure a deal’
Too much faith placed in the ‘special relationship’?
The UK believes it’s in a better position than most other countries globally. It sits outside the EU giving it autonomy in its trade policy, its deficit with the US is small, and Trump loves Britain.
It’s true too that the UK government has managed to accelerate trade conversations with the White House on a tariff-free trade partnership. Trump’s threats have forced conversations that would normally sit in the long grass for months.
Yet, for now, the conversations have yielded nothing firm. That’s a worry for sure. Did Keir Starmer have too much faith in the ‘special relationship’?
Downing Street will have identified areas where they can tweak trade policy to placate Trump. Cars maybe? Currently US cars into the UK carry a 10% tariff. Digital services perhaps?
US food? Unlikely – there are non-tariff barriers on US food because the consensus seems to be that chlorinated chicken and the like isn’t something UK consumers want.
Easier access to UK financial services maybe? More visas for Americans?
For now though, everyone is waiting to see what Trump does before they either retaliate or relent and lower their own market barriers.
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