The IDF on Tuesday launched an investigation into its disastrous mistaken killing of seven international aid workers from the World Central Kitchen (WCK), in an airstrike on Deir al-Balah in central Gaza late Monday night.
Sources told The Jerusalem Post that there were concerns that the WCK was not merely suspending operations, but pulling out entirely. There were also concerns that this would happen with the World Food Program and other groups.
If too many of the groups pull out permanently, Israel’s entire plan to replace UNRWA with organizations that only deal in food and do not (at least partially) support some of Hamas’s politics, could collapse.
This could leave Israel stuck with handling food distribution to Palestinian civilians directly, something it has worked hard to avoid.
There are also concerns that the failure could impact US willingness to endorse a larger operation in Rafah at a time when Jerusalem is trying to convince Washington that it has the skill to evacuate 1.4 million Palestinian civilians without harm coming to many of them.
Around 10:30 p.m., IDF personnel started to track what they believed was one or more Hamas operatives within the special corridor in central Gaza to coordinate and deliver humanitarian aid.
The IDF decided not to attack them at the time, thinking this would avoid civilian casualties.
However, a short time later, IDF drones attacked one of the aid trucks, allegedly believing that this was a safer place to attack.
Multiple IDF sources said they still did not yet know why those involved would think it was worthwhile to endanger a humanitarian aid convoy simply to take out run-of-the-mill Hamas operatives.
It was also unclear why the drones allegedly attacked the humanitarian aid workers multiple times, including against multiple trucks, and including when some emerged from the trucks to seek medical assistance, without any sign of fighting.
Rather, they said that IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi would receive the initial probe findings from IDF Southern Command Chief Maj.-Gen. Yaron Finkleman overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday, and Halevi would then decide how and what to present to the world in the coming days.
Hagari comments on the event
By early Tuesday, IDF Spokesperson R.-Adm. Daniel Hagari spoke with WCK founder chef Jose Anders, expressing his condolences to the families of the victims and the organization and also making a public statement on the issue.
Hagari said: “As a professional military committed to international law, we are committed to examining our operations thoroughly and transparently. We also express sincere sorrow to our allied nations who have been doing and continue to do so much to assist those in need.”
Hagari stressed that the IDF is reviewing the incident “at the highest levels” to understand what happened. “We will be opening a probe to examine this serious incident further. This will help us reduce the risk of such an event occurring again.”
The IDF spokesperson added that the incident would be investigated in the Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism: an independent, professional, and expert body.
“For the last few months, the IDF has been working closely with the World Central Kitchen to assist them in fulfilling their noble mission of helping to bring food and humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza,” said Hagari.
“WCK also came to help Israelis after the massacre of October 7; they were one of the first NGOs here. The work of WCK is critical; they are on the frontlines of humanity. We will get to the bottom of this and we will share our findings transparently.”
Around midday, the IDF announced that its COGAT and Southern Command branches are establishing a joint command center for handling humanitarian aid distribution.
The IDF said that such a command center was in the planning stages before the accidental air strikes on three WFK trucks, possibly by multiple IDF drones, but is being accelerated following the episode.
It is expected to already start operating Wednesday and the IDF expects that this will improve coordination between the battle and humanitarian coordination arms of the IDF, though the military said this coordination was significant even before the incident.
In addition, the IDF said that – given the sensitive nature of the incident globally - it is rushing to publicly produce details about what went wrong, which officials made mistakes, and how the mistakes developed, as early as Tuesday night, but in any case within a mere matter of days.
This would not replace a potentially longer and more comprehensive investigation, but would at least show the IDF’s good faith efforts to probe and be transparent about its significant errors during the incident.
Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Yoav Har-Even will also independently probe the initial investigation carried out by Halevi.
Although the IDF emphasized that its concern is to demonstrate its general commitment to international law and to provide humanitarian aid to Gazan civilians, the incident could not have come at a worse time for Israel.
The IDF said that six of those killed are foreigners and one is a Palestinian.
Halevi personally notified CENTCOM late Monday night.
The aid supplies had been recently brought in by the UAE by boat and transferred onto land vehicles for transport to Gaza civilians as part of Israeli efforts to get food to civilians without the involvement of Hamas.
The WCK, which provides food in disaster areas, confirmed that seven of its workers were killed in an IDF strike in Gaza on Tuesday, adding that it was pausing operations in the region “immediately.”
“We will be making decisions about the future of our work soon,” added the organization. The seven killed in the strike include Australian, Polish, and British citizens, as well as a dual citizen of the US and Canada, and a Palestinian.
The team hit in the strike was “traveling in a deconflicted zone in two armored cars branded with the WCK logo and a soft skin vehicle,” according to the WCK.
The organization added that they had coordinated their movements with the IDF and that the convoy was hit after leaving a warehouse in Deir al-Balah, shortly after unloading over 100 tons of humanitarian food aid brought to Gaza through the maritime route from Cyprus.
“This is not only an attack against WCK, this is an attack on humanitarian organizations showing up in the most dire of situations where food is being used as a weapon of war. This is unforgivable,” said World Central Kitchen CEO Erin Gore.
“I am heartbroken and appalled that we – World Central Kitchen and the world—lost beautiful lives today because of a targeted attack by the IDF. The love they had for feeding people, the determination they embodied to show that humanity rises above all, and the impact they made on countless lives will forever be remembered and cherished,” said the CEO.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday lamented the killing, saying “This happens in wartime. We are thoroughly looking into it, are in contact with the governments (of the foreigners among the dead), and will do everything to ensure it does not happen again.”
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant also said he was personally involved to ensure that the probe was deep, transparent, and that findings would be provided quickly and properly to the world.