‘They are a target in his eyes’: IDF releases findings of what went wrong in strike that killed aid workers

Published

1 year ago

April 5, 2024

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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”.

‘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.

Findings are a damning slur on the Israeli military

This wasn’t an accident. It was no mistaken misfire.

The IDF cell tracking the vehicles fired lethal precision-guided missiles into each car, one after the other.

Through blurred nighttime surveillance footage, they saw what they thought was a man carrying a gun and assumed he was a Hamas fighter.

They then assumed everyone else travelling in the vehicles were also Hamas. There was no evidence for this.

They kept firing because they saw passengers still alive.

The basic failure to pass details of the aid convoy down the chain of command is a damning slur on a military that thinks of itself as being one of the best in the world.

The decision to launch air strikes with the intent of killing people, based on unsound evidence, raises deeply troubling questions of ethics in combat.

It’s a sad irony that one of the only reasons World Central Kitchen were operating at night was because of their previously good working relationship with the Israeli military.

Had six of the seven killed not been foreign aid workers, whose deaths caused an international outcry, then this investigation would not have happened and the Israeli military would not have been forced to explain its actions.

How many Palestinian civilians therefore have been killed in similar, uninvestigated cases of mistaken identity, we will probably never know.

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 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.

‘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.

• 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”.

‘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.”

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.

World

Inside a NATO base in Poland – as residents bordering Russia say ‘scare tactic’ is needed

Published

2 hours ago

April 10, 2025

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Inside a NATO base in Poland - as residents bordering Russia say 'scare tactic' is needed

Along the thin strip of beach and woodland known as the Vistula Spit which marks the northernmost demarcation between Poland and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, there is not much in the way of a border.

Just some torn wire fencing and a few rotten posts which seem to stagger drunkenly into the shallows of the Baltic Sea.

Beneath a sign barring entry, we find a couple of empty bottles of Russian cognac and vodka.

It doesn’t feel like the edge of NATO territory.

“I don’t see much protection. It’s not good,” says Krzysztof from Katowice, who has come to inspect the border himself.

“We have to have some kind of scare tactic, something to show that we are trying to strengthen our army,” says Grzegorz, who lives nearby.

“At the same time I think I would not base the defence of our country solely on our army. I am convinced that Europe or America, if anything were to happen, will help us 100%.”

Poland is investing massively in its defence, with military spending set to hit 4.7% of GDP in 2025, more than any other NATO country.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said he will introduce voluntary military training for men of any age, and women too should they wish, so the army has a competent reserve force in the event of war.

He is investing $2.5bn in stronger border fortifications between Russia and Belarus, a project called East Shield which will include anti-tank obstacles, bunkers and potentially minefields too.

Along with its Baltic neighbours, Poland is withdrawing from the Ottawa convention against the use of land mines. It hasn’t committed to using them, but it wants to have that option.

We’ve been granted access to one of the cornerstones of Polish, and European defence, which is a couple of hours drive from the Vistula spit at the Redowicze military base.

Aegis Ashore Poland, together with its sister site in Romania, are the land-based arms of NATO’s missile defence shield over Europe, which is run by the US navy.

They are symbols of the US commitment to NATO and to the protection of Europe.

And despite changes at the top of the Pentagon it is “business as usual”, says Captain Michael Dwan who oversees air and missile defence within the US Sixth Fleet.

“Our mission to work with NATO forces has been unchanged. And so our commitment from the United States perspective and what capability we bring to ballistic missile defence and the defence of NATO is championed here in Poland.”

As far as Russia is concerned, NATO’s two missile defence bases in Romania and Poland represent a NATO threat on their doorstep and are therefore a “priority target for potential neutralisation”, per Russia’s foreign ministry.

NATO says the installations are purely defensive and their SM-3 interceptor missiles are not armed and are not intended to carry warheads. Russia counters they could easily be adapted to threaten Russia.

Not the case, Captain Dwan says.

“It’s not a matter of moving offensive weapons here into the facility, the hardware and the infrastructure is simply not installed.

“It would take months or years to change the mission of this site and a significant amount of money and capability and design.”

With so much marked “secret” on the site, it seems amazing to be granted the access.

But for NATO, transparency is part of deterrence. They want potential adversaries to know how sophisticated their radar and interception systems are.

They know that if they carried warheads on site, that would make them a target so they don’t.

Deterrence also depends on whether potential adversaries believe in the US’s commitment to NATO and to Europe’s defence.

On an operational level, as far as the troops are concerned, that commitment may still be iron-clad.

But as far as its commander-in-chief goes, there is still – as with so much around Donald Trump’s presidency – a great deal of uncertainty.

In the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon President Trump suggested he might bundle a potential US troop drawdown in Europe together with the issue of EU trade and tariffs.

“Nice to wrap it up in one package,” he said, “it’s nice and clean”.

Probably not the way Europe sees it, not with a resurgent Russia on their doorstep, economic tailwinds breeding animosity and the notion of Pax Americana crumbling at their feet.

World

Asianmarkets bounce back after Trump pauses higher tariffs for most countries – despite increasing those on China to 125%

Published

8 hours ago

April 10, 2025

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Asianmarkets bounce back after Trump pauses higher tariffs for most countries - despite increasing those on China to 125%

Asian markets have reacted positively after Donald Trump paused his so-called “reciprocal” tariffs on most of America’s trading partners for 90 days, despite the US president increasing those on China to 125%.

There have been fears of a global recession and stock markets around the world had plummeted after Mr Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs on Wednesday 2 April.

However, Japan’s Nikkei share average was up 8.2% by 3.50am BST, while the broader Topix had risen 7.5%.

Similarly, the S&P 500 stock index had jumped 9.5% and global markets bounced back following Mr Trump’s announcement on Wednesday that the increased tariffs on nearly all trading partners would now be paused.

Tariffs latest: Trump gives reasons for pausing some tariffs

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump said the “90-day pause” was for the “more than 75 countries” who had not retaliated against his tariffs “in any way”.

He added that during this period they would still have to pay a “substantially lowered” 10% tariff, which is “effective immediately”.

It is lower than the 20% tariff that Mr Trump had set for goods from the European Union, 24% on imports from Japan and 25% on products from South Korea.

The UK was already going to face a blanket 10% tariff under the new system.

Mr Trump said the increased 125% tariff on imported goods from China was “effective immediately”.

He added: “At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realise that the days of ripping off the USA, and other countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable.”

What’s in Trump’s tariff pause?

Here’s what Donald Trump’s tariff pause entails:

‘Reciprocal’ tariffs on hold

• Higher tariffs that took effect today on 57 trading partners will be paused for 90 days

• These include the EU, Japan and South Korea, all of which will face a baseline 10% duty instead

• Countries that already had a 10% levy imposed since last week – such as the UK – aren’t affected by the pause

China tariffs increased

• Trump imposed a higher 125% tariff on China

• That’s in addition to levies he imposed during his first term

• China had hit the US with 84% tariff earlier today, following tit-for-tat escalations

No change for Canada or Mexico

• Canadian and Mexican goods will remain subject to 25% fentanyl-related tariffs if they don’t comply with the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement’s rules of origin

• Compliant goods are exempt

Car and metal tariffs remain

• Trump’s pause doesn’t apply to the 25% tariffs he levied on steel and aluminium in March and on cars (autos) on 3 April

• This 25% tariff on car parts does not come into effect until 3 May

Sectors at risk

• Copper, lumber, semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and critical minerals are expected to be subject to separate tariffs, in the same way autos are

Hours after Mr Trump announced the pause on tariffs for most countries, a White House official clarified that this did not apply to the 25% duties imposed on some US imports from Mexico and Canada.

The tariffs were first announced in February and Mexico and Canada were not included in the “Liberation Day” announcements.

Hours before the 125% tariff on China was revealed, Beijing said it was increasing tariffs on US goods by 50%.

It meant tariffs of 84% would be enforced on US goods – up from the 34% China had previously planned.

China ‘want to make a deal’

Asked why he posted “BE COOL” on Truth Social hours before announcing his tariff pause, Mr Trump told reporters at the White House: “I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line.”

“They were getting yippy, you know, were getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid,” he added.

Mr Trump continued: “China wants to make a deal, they just don’t know how to go about it.

“[They’re] quite the proud people, and President Xi is a proud man. I know him very well, and they don’t know quite how to go about it, but they’ll figure it out.

“They’re in the process of figuring out, but they want to make a deal.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the walk back was part of a grand negotiating strategy by Mr Trump.

“President Trump created maximum negotiating leverage for himself,” she said, adding that the news media “clearly failed to see what President Trump is doing here”.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also insisted Mr Trump had strengthened his hand through his tariffs.

“President Trump created maximum negotiating leverage for himself,” he said.

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Mr Bessent said Mr Trump decided to raise tariffs on China because Beijing hadn’t reached out to the US and instead increased its own levies on US goods.

Downing Street said that the UK will “coolly and calmly” continue its negotiations with the US.

A Number 10 spokeswoman said: “A trade war is in nobody’s interests. We don’t want any tariffs at all, so for jobs and livelihoods across the UK, we will coolly and calmly continue to negotiate in Britain’s interests.”