Israel Sacks Top Officers Over Aid Convoy Attack As Biden Gives 'Ultimatum' To Netanyahu

On Thursday President Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the Israeli military's killing of seven aid workers with the World Central Kitchen which happened Monday, and has since resulted in rare expression of US mainstream media outrage. 

The White House readout suggested a tense exchange, with Biden conveying tough words to the prime minister.  "President Biden emphasized that the strikes on humanitarian workers and the overall humanitarian situation are unacceptable. He made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers," the readout said.

"He made clear that US policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these steps," the statement added. Widespread media reports interpreted this as an unprecedented "ultimatum" given to the close US ally.

For example Reuters wrote that Biden "threatened to condition support for Israel's offensive in Gaza on it taking concrete steps to protect aid workers and civilians, seeking for the first time to leverage US aid to influence Israeli military behavior."

But as the reported Palestinian death toll in Gaza reaches and surpasses 33,000 - according to local health ministry figures - the administration in reality appears no closer to taking any action on placing conditions on use of US weaponry. Going back to Oct.7, Biden has only consistently vowed the opposite - that the defense aid would flow to Tel Aviv uninterrupted. This despite that one of the aid workers was American.

But the Israelis, seeking to tap down international and US anger, have said an internal investigation has concluded that the IDF drone team behind the attack was in "serious violation" of the military's rules. Writes The Wall Street Journal, "The Israeli drone team that killed seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen after mistaking them for Hamas militants lacked the evidence to order the strikes and twice violated the military’s operating rules, an Israeli military investigation found."

"The investigation's findings indicate that the incident should not have occurred," the IDF said. "Those who approved the strike were convinced that they were targeting armed Hamas operatives and not WCK employees." The IDF still says it was a Hamas terrorists initially being targeted. "The investigation found that the forces identified a gunman on one of the aid trucks, following which they identified an additional gunman," the statement said.

However, once the convoy of vehicles left the warehouse where it delivered food, "one of the commanders mistakenly assumed that the gunmen were located inside the accompanying vehicles and that these were Hamas terrorists." Further, the drone team failed to take account for the fact that the vehicles were clearly marked with large WCK branding for identification purposes. No militants, alive or deceased, were ever found near the scene of the attack. According to more via WSJ:

Maj. Gen. Benny Gal, who took part in the investigation, said militants over the past month had commandeered aid convoys by joining them in vehicles that looked similar to those the aid workers used. This convinced commanders they were witnessing a similar phenomenon, he said. 

The IDF statement ultimately concluded, "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."

Israel has unveiled disciplinary steps against top officers for the "serious failure", which has included the dismissal of two officers and the reprimand of three others. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi has removed the chief of staff of the Nahal Infantry Brigade, Col. (res.) Nochi Mendel, as well as the brigade’s firepower coordination officer, who holds the rank of major.

Secy. Blinken: U.S. carefully reviewing Israeli probe of World Central Kitchen strikes pic.twitter.com/bTJLHSgPAj

— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) April 5, 2024

Still, the World Central Kitchen charity has hit back, pointing out that "The IDF cannot credibly investigate its own failure in Gaza." WCK added: "Without systemic change, there will be more military failures, more apologies and more grieving families." The White House says it is carefully reviewing Israel's internal investigation of the strikes.