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Seven aid workers arrived in northern Gaza early Monday to help deliver more than 100 tons of food aid, according to World Central Kitchen. The Israeli military said the trucks left around 9 p.m. and headed south toward the group’s warehouse.
According to the military, the truck encountered a car that had joined the convoy along the coastal road. Moments later, a gunman appeared to fire a single shot from the roof of the truck, said Maj. Gen. Yoav Haeven, a reserve officer overseeing military investigations into possible wartime misconduct.
Israeli officials said the drone operator and his commanders did not know the vehicle was part of an approved humanitarian convoy and mistakenly believed it was carrying armed Palestinians.
Asked why the soldiers were left out, General Hareven said some officers had not seen the coordination document. “There are no excuses,” General Hareven said, explaining the communications failure.
After the convoy arrived at the warehouse, authorities said Israeli drone footage captured more suspected gunmen at the scene. The Israeli military showed the video to reporters at a press conference on Thursday. The New York Times could not independently verify the military video.
Officials said they believed the scenes they witnessed were similar to previous attempts by Hamas militants to seize humanitarian aid in Gaza. Hamas spokesman Bassem Naim denied that Hamas stole the aid and called the accusations “Israeli propaganda.”
The cars then left the warehouse, three heading south and one heading north, military officials said. Before they departed, a drone operator spotted a person with a weapon enter one of the three southbound cars.
Within four minutes, at least one Israeli drone struck each of the three vehicles in the convoy as it headed south, killing all seven people on board, Israeli officials said. Benny Gal, one of the Israeli generals who briefed reporters, said Israeli officers fired at the first vehicle “not enough to say this was a legitimate target.”
Officials said some rescue workers in the first vehicle that crashed fled to the next vehicle for protection. That vehicle was also struck.
Officials said the soldiers’ decision to open fire on the second and third vehicles, erroneously assuming that insurgents were also lurking in them, was a direct result of Israeli military field attacks. The shooting regulations were not met. The Israeli military’s rules of engagement are classified, making it difficult to know what the standard for the use of deadly force was on Monday night.However, General Har Even suggested that this attack decisively defeated them..
“This violated the rules of engagement,” he said.
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