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Israeli military fires 2 officers as probe blames World Central Kitchen deaths on “mistaken identification”
The Israeli military announced Friday that it dismissed two officers and reprimanded three others for their roles in drone strikes in Gaza that killed seven aid workers on a food-delivery mission, saying they had mishandled critical information and violated the army’s rules of engagement.
An investigation carried out by a retired Israel Defense Forces general into the Monday killings marked an embarrassing admission by Israel, which faces growing accusations from key allies, including the U.S., of not doing enough to protect Gaza’s civilians from its war with Hamas.
The findings are likely to renew skepticism over the Israeli military’s decision-making. Palestinians, aid groups and human rights organizations have repeatedly accused Israeli forces of firing recklessly at civilians throughout the conflict — a charge Israel denies.
IDF says attack on WCK “should not have occurred”
“It’s a tragedy,” the military’s spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, told reporters of the strikes on the World Central Kitchen team. “It’s a serious event that we are responsible for and it shouldn’t have happened and we will make sure that it won’t happen again.”
“The incident should not have occurred,” the IDF said in a statement summarizing retired general Yoav Har-Even’s seven-page findings. “Those who approved the strike were convinced that they were targeting armed Hamas operatives and not WCK employees. 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.”
Har-Even’s investigation was carried out with remarkable expedience and explained in greater detail than is typically provided by the IDF about its actions. The findings were announced within hours of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu having a phone call with President Biden, who told his Israeli counterpart the strike on the WCK team was “unacceptable” and warned that U.S. policy on the conflict going forward would depend on Israel’s actions to relieve the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, according to the White House.
It was unclear whether the punishments and the apology would calm an international outcry over the deaths of the World Central Kitchen workers or reassure international aid groups that it was safe to resume operations in Gaza, where nearly a third of the population is on the brink of starvation.
World Central Kitchen calls for “systemic change”
In a statement, WCK said Friday that while Israel had taken “important steps forward” based on its findings, “it is also clear from their preliminary investigation that the IDF has deployed deadly force without regard to its own protocols, chain of command and rules of engagement.”
“Without systemic change, there will be more military failures, more apologies and more grieving families,” the charity said. “The root cause of the unjustified rocket fire on our convoy is the severe lack of food in Gaza. Israel needs to dramatically increase the volume of food and medicine traveling by land if it is serious about supporting humanitarian aid.”
WCK also called for another investigation into the incident, not carried out by the Israeli military.
“We demand the creation of an independent commission to investigate the killings of our WCK colleagues,” the organization said in its statement. “The IDF cannot credibly investigate its own failure in Gaza.”
Details of the Israeli investigation’s findings
According to what spokespeople said were the Israeli army’s rules, targets must be visually identified as threats for multiple reasons before they can be hit. But the investigation determined that a colonel had authorized the series of deadly drone strikes on the convoy based on one major’s observation — from grainy drone-camera video — that someone in the convoy was armed. That observation turned out to be untrue, military officials said.
The army said the colonel and the major were dismissed, while three other officers were reprimanded. It said the results of its investigation were turned over to the military’s advocate general, who will decide whether the officers or anyone else involved in the killings should receive further punishment or be prosecuted.
The killings were condemned by Israel’s closest allies and renewed criticism of Israel’s conduct in the nearly 6-month-old war with Hamas.
The aid workers were three British citizens, a Polish citizen, an Australian and a Canadian American dual citizen, all of whom worked for WCK, the international charity founded by celebrity Spanish-American chef José Andrés. Their Palestinian driver also was killed.
Yasser Qudaih/Anadolu/Getty
The Israeli investigation found two major areas of wrongdoing.
It faulted officers for failing to read messages alerting troops that cars, not aid trucks, would carry workers from the charity away from the warehouse where aid was distributed. As a result, the cars that were targeted were misidentified as transporting militants.
The army said the order was given after one of the passengers inside a car was identified as a gunman. It said troops became suspicious because a gunman had been seen on the roof of one of the delivery trucks on the way to the warehouse. The army showed reporters video of the gunman firing his weapon while riding atop one of the trucks.
After the aid was dropped off at a warehouse, an officer believed he had spotted a gunman in one of the cars. The passenger, it turned out, was not carrying a weapon — the military said it’s possible he was just carrying a bag.
The army said it initially hit one car. As people scrambled away into a second car, it hit that vehicle as well. It did the same thing when survivors scrambled into a third car. Army officials claimed that drone operators could not see that the cars were marked with the words “World Central Kitchen” because it was nighttime.
Israel vows to do “utmost to limit civilian casualties”
The investigation’s findings confirm, in large part, the account of the attack given earlier this week by Andres himself, who said his team’s vehicles had been “targeted systematically, car by car.”
Despite the deaths of the aid workers, however, a spokesperson for Israel’s government insisted Thursday that his country was setting a “new gold standard” in preventing civilian casualties.
“All I can say at the moment is to offer my apologies and say that we share in the grief,” Avi Hyman told CBS News correspondent Holly Williams. “Our fight is with Hamas, not the people of Gaza, and we will do our utmost to limit civilian casualties on both sides.”
But the medical aid group Doctors Without Borders said Thursday that it did not accept Israel’s insistence that the incident was simply a mistake, claiming it was part of a pattern of deliberate attacks on aid workers.
“Humanitarian workers are protected. No ifs, no buts. We do not accept the narrative of regrettable incidents,” the group said.
The Israeli investigation’s findings were to be handed over to military prosecutors, to determine whether a criminal investigation was warranted.
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Sen. Duckworth says Trump defense secretary pick is “flat-out wrong” about women in combat roles
Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth said Sunday that Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary is “flat-out wrong” in his view that women should not serve in the military in combat roles.
“Our military could not go to war without the women who wear this uniform,” Duckworth said on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” “And frankly, America’s daughters are just as capable of defending liberty and freedom as her sons.”
Trump tapped Hegseth, a former Fox News host and Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan as his pick to head the Defense Department earlier this month. The 44-year-old has drawn criticism for his stance on women in combat roles, along with his level of experience.
Duckworth, who in 2004 deployed to Iraq as a Blackhawk helicopter pilot and sustained severe injuries when her helicopter was hit by an RPG, outlined that women who serve in combat roles have met the same standards as men, passing rigorous testing. She said Hegseth’s position “just shows his lack of understanding of where our military is,” while arguing that he’s “inordinately unqualified for the position.”
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“Our military could not go to war without the 220,000-plus women who serve in uniform,” Duckworth said. She added that having women in the military “does make us more effective, does make us more lethal.”
Hegseth has also drawn scrutiny amid recently unearthed details about an investigation into an alleged sexual assault in 2017. Hegseth denies the allegation and characterized the incident as a consensual encounter. The Monterey County district attorney’s office declined to file charges as none were “supported by proof beyond a reasonable doubt.” His lawyer has acknowledged that Hegseth paid a confidential financial settlement to the woman out of concern that the allegation would jeopardize his employment.
Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat who serves on the Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, said it’s “really troubling” that Trump would nominate someone who “has admitted that he’s paid off a victim who has claimed rape allegations against him.”
“This is not the kind of person you want to lead the Department of Defense,” she added.
The comments come after Trump announced a slew of picks for top posts in his administration in recent days. Meanwhile, one pick — former Rep. Matt Gaetz for attorney general — has already withdrawn his name from consideration after he faced intense scrutiny amid a House Ethics Committee investigation and a tenuous path to Senate confirmation.
While Duckworth acknowledged that she’s glad her Senate Republicans “held the line” on Gaetz and also elected Sen. John Thune as leader over a candidate favored by many in Trump’s orbit, she said she’s “deeply concerned” her Republican colleagues will green light Trump’s nominees.
“From what I’m hearing from my Republican colleagues on everything from defense secretary to other posts, it sounds like they are ready to roll over for Mr. Trump,” Duckworth said.
But Duckworth didn’t rule out supporting some of the nominees herself during the Senate confirmation process, pledged to evaluate each candidate based on their ability to do the job, and their willingness to put the needs of the American people before “a retribution campaign for Mr. Trump.”
Meanwhile, a CBS News poll released on Sunday found that 33% of Americans say Hegseth is a “good choice” for defense secretary, including 64% of Trump voters. But 39% of Americans said they hadn’t heard enough yet about the pick. More broadly, Americans generally say they want Trump to appoint people who’ll speak their minds and who have experience in the field or agency they’ll run.
Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican who also appeared on “Face the Nation” on Sunday, said he believes that Hegseth can run the massive Defense Department, despite his lack of experience managing a large organization. Though he did not address Hegseth’s comments about women in combat roles, Paul said he believes the “vast majority of people” support leaders who are picked based on merit, citing Hegseth’s criticism of the Pentagon for what he says has been a move away from merit-based hiring and toward hiring based on “racial characteristics.”
Hezbollah fired at least 185 rockets and other projectiles into Israel on Sunday, wounding seven people in the militant group’s heaviest barrage in several days, in response to deadly Israeli strikes in Beirut while negotiators pressed on with cease-fire efforts to halt the war.
Meanwhile, an Israeli strike on a Lebanese army center killed one soldier and wounded 18 others on the southwestern coastal road between Tyre and Naqoura, Lebanon’s military said. Israel’s military expressed regret and said the strike occurred in an area of combat against Hezbollah, adding that its operations are directed solely against the militants. The strike was under review.
Hussein Malla / AP
Israeli strikes have killed over 40 Lebanese troops since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah, even as Lebanon’s military has largely kept to the sidelines.
Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned it as an assault on U.S.-led cease-fire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.
“(Israel is) again writing in Lebanese blood a brazen rejection of the solution that is being discussed,” a statement from his office read.
The strike occurred in southwestern Lebanon on the coastal road between Tyre and Naqoura, where there has been heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.
Israel has launched retaliatory airstrikes since the rocket fire began, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war, as Israel launched waves of airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah’s top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several of his top commanders.
Hezbollah fired a total of around 160 rockets and other projectiles into Israel on Sunday, some of which were intercepted, the Israeli military said.
Oded Balilty / AP
Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said it was treating two people in the central city of Petah Tikva, a 23-year-old man who was lightly wounded by a blast and a 70-year-old woman suffering from smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire. The first responders said they treated three other people in northern Israel, closer to the border, including a 60-year-old man in serious condition.
It was unclear whether the injuries and damage were caused by the rockets or interceptors.
Israeli airstrikes early Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 20 people and wounding 66, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.
On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardments in northern Israel and in battle following Israel’s ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country’s north.
The Biden administration has spent months trying to broker a cease-fire, and U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein was back in the region last week.
The European Union’s top diplomat called for more pressure on both Israel and Hezbollah to reach a deal, saying one was “pending with a final agreement from the Israeli government.”
Josep Borrell spoke Sunday after meeting with Mikati and Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally who has been mediating with the group.
Borrell said the EU is ready to allocate 200 million euros ($208m) to assist the Lebanese military, which would deploy additional forces to the south.
The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war. Lebanese troops would patrol the area, with the presence of U.N. peacekeepers.
Lebanon’s army reflects the religious diversity of the country and is respected as a national institution, but it does not have the military capability to impose its will on Hezbollah or resist Israel’s invasion.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth says Pete Hegseth is “flat-out wrong” about women in combat roles
Sen. Duckworth says Trump defense secretary pick is “flat-out wrong” about women in combat roles
Israeli strike kills Lebanese soldier as Hezbollah fires at least 185 rockets at Israel
Sen. Tammy Duckworth says Pete Hegseth is “flat-out wrong” about women in combat roles
Sen. Duckworth says Trump defense secretary pick is “flat-out wrong” about women in combat roles