FLASH
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The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on Sunday that an internal investigation into the killing of 15 humanitarian and medical workers in Gaza has found "several professional failures, violations of orders and a failure to fully report the incident."
The Israeli military has faced harsh criticism in recent weeks from international leaders for killing 15 aid workers and doctors on March 23, burying them in shallow graves and misreporting details of the incident afterward.
The workers' bodies were found a week later by UN and Palestinian Red Crescent staff.
While the Israeli military stated that it "regrets the harm caused to uninvolved civilians," it argued that its soldiers were carrying out a "vital mission" by targeting Hamas terrorists and reiterated the claim that Hamas uses medical and humanitarian infrastructure "for terrorism, including using ambulances to transport terrorists and weapons."
The report says that "in general" there was no attempt to cover up the incident, despite the soldiers admitting to burying the bodies and crushing the ambulances, claiming that doing the latter "was wrong".
The army initially claimed that soldiers opened fire on vehicles without lights or markings approaching in the dark. But after a video taken from the cellphone of one of the dead emerged showing clearly marked ambulances with their lights on, the army changed its claim.
In its final accounts of the incident, the Israeli military says troops opened fire on "suspects" who emerged from a fire truck and ambulance "after perceiving an immediate and tangible threat."
As the vehicles rapidly approached, the deputy commander assessed the vehicles as being used by Hamas forces and ordered fire to be opened.
"Due to poor visibility at night, the deputy commander initially did not recognize the vehicles as ambulances, but later, after approaching the vehicles and scanning them, it was discovered that these were indeed rescue teams," the report states.
Shortly after the incident, troops also fired on a UN vehicle due to "operational errors," the report added, which occurred due to "a violation of orders during a combat environment."
The report argues that six of the fifteen victims were identified as Hamas members.
As a result of the investigation, a deputy commander will be dismissed and a commanding officer will receive a reprimand.
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