Israel admits ‘serious failures’ over deadly strike but insists aid workers were mistaken for Hamas: Updates
Biden and Netanyahu spoke on Thursday for first time since deaths of aid workers as pressure mounts on Sunak to withdraw arms sales
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Israel has admitted that “serious failures” were made by its forces after seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers were killed in an airstrike in Gaza.
The IDF announced on Friday that its internal investigation into the incident had concluded.
While admitting that a “grave mistake” was made, the IDF continued to claim innocence over the attack – insisting that the WCK workers were “misidentified” as Hamas militants. Two military officers have been dismissed from their positions following the findings, the IDF said.
More than 220 humanitarian workers have been killed in the conflict, according to the UN. Scott Paul of Oxfam said on Thursday: “The killing of aid workers in Gaza has been systemic.”
The announcement comes hours after Israel agreed to reopen two border crossings into Gaza to increase the flow of humanitarian aid, after President Joe Biden warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a call that future US support for Israel would be determined by its efforts to protect civilians and aid workers.
Meanwhile, former UK foreign secretary Alan Duncan is being investigated by Tory chiefs after he said pro-Israel “extremists” in the party should be kicked out over their refusal to support international law.
Chaos, distrust and indiscipline are undermining Israel’s war, say insiders
As Benjamin Netanyahu’s government bows to pressure to open another entry point for aid into Gaza, some Israeli officials have warned that there could be a repeat of the deadly convoy airstrike blunder because of fundamental flaws in the aims and conduct of the war.
Two officers of the Israel Defense Forces – a colonel and a major – are to be dismissed over the attack on vehicles belonging to World Central Kitchen (WCK). The incident killed seven charity employees – three of them British – and drew international condemnation.
But a number of officials, some in the security sphere, have told The Independent that the conditions for what happened were created by a number of factors, including unclear rules of engagement in Gaza; indiscipline and a sense of impunity among soldiers; inflammatory rhetoric from hard-right politicians; and the disdain of some in the military for a defence ministry unit known as Cogat – the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories – because the liaison group is deemed to be “too soft” on Palestinians.
Read the full article from our world affairs editor Kim Sengupta here:
Chaos, distrust and indiscipline are undermining Israel’s war, say insiders
Gaza will become ‘another Mogadishu’ as gangs fill the vacuum created by the removal of Hamas, sources tell world affairs editor Kim Sengupta
Biden urges Egypt, Qatar leaders to press Hamas to come to agreement for Israeli hostages in Gaza
President Joe Biden on Friday wrote to the leaders of Egypt and Qatar, calling on them to press Hamas for hostage deal with Israel, according to a senior administration official, one day after Biden called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to redouble efforts to reach a cease-fire in the six-month-old war in Gaza.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private letters, said Biden’s national security adviser will meet Monday with family members of some of the estimated 100 hostages who are believed to still be in Gaza.
The letters come as Biden has deployed CIA Director Bill Burns to Cairo for talks this weekend about the hostage crisis.
Colombia seeks to join Gaza genocide case against Israel at World Court
Colombia has asked the International Court of Justice to allow the country to intervene in South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide in the Gaza Strip, the court said Friday.
In its application, Colombia called on the court to ensure “the safety and, indeed, the very existence of the Palestinian people”.
The ICJ, the highest U.N. court, can allow states to intervene and give their views. Several states have said they would also seek to intervene in the case but so far only Colombia and Nicaragua have filed a public request.
Last week ICJ judges ordered Israel to take all necessary and effective action to ensure basic food supplies arrive without delay to Palestinians in Gaza.
In January the ICJ, also known as the World Court, ordered Israel to refrain from any acts that could fall under the genocide convention and to ensure its troops commit no genocidal acts against Palestinians in Gaza.
Egyptian authorities arrest 10 after a pro-Gaza rally calling for severing ties with Israel
Egyptian authorities this week arrested 10 activists who participated in a pro-Palestinian protest where they accused the government of contributing to the siege of Gaza and called for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador, a human rights lawyer said.
Egypt’s government has condemned Israel’s campaign in Gaza and has played a central role, along with the U.S. and Qatar, in trying to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. But it has largely banned public protests, and criticism of the country’s ties with Israel is highly sensitive.
On Wednesday, nearly 200 people rallied outside the building of the Journalist Syndicate in Cairo, waving the Palestinian flag and chanting slogans: “What a disgrace! Egypt is helping the siege!” and “No to the Israeli Embassy! No to normalization”. They also raised banners reading “Open the Rafah crossing” and “Glory to the Palestinian resistance.”
Read the full article here:
Egyptian authorities arrest 10 after a pro-Gaza rally calling for severing ties with Israel
A human rights lawyer in Egypt says the authorities have arrested 10 activists who participated in a pro-Palestinian protest where they accused the government of contributing to the siege of Gaza and called for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador
New Gaza ceasefire-for-hostages talks set for Cairo this weekend
A fresh round of talks aimed at arranging a Gaza ceasefire in exchange for hostages held by Hamas militants is being planned for Cairo this weekend with U.S. representation, the White House said on Friday.
CIA Director Bill Burns will lead the U.S. delegation, a U.S. official said.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call on Thursday to empower his negotiators in Cairo so that a deal can be reached as soon as possible.
The United States and its allies view a ceasefire as essential to allowing more humanitarian aid to get into Gaza amid fears of famine among the Palestinians there.
Under the most recent proposal, Israel and Hamas would agree to a six-week ceasefire in exchange for the release of sick, elderly and wounded hostages held by Hamas. Progress on a deal has been stalled for weeks.
Amnesty International calls for UK to stop trade of arms to Israel
Kristyan Benedict, Amnesty International UK’s Crisis Response Manager, said: “These killings were only the latest in a sickening death toll of aid workers in Gaza, and the Israeli authorities have a decades-long history of cover-ups.
“Years of so-called ‘investigations’ by Israel into abuses committed by its forces in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem have worked to deny justice for grieving families.
“The Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary and other ministers need to finally start confronting the reality of Israeli war crimes in Gaza and take action now to ensure there are consequences.
“The UK should immediately stop transfers of arms to Israel and fully support efforts by the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice to examine the long catalogue of Israeli atrocities in Gaza.”
Mood in State Department is ‘worse than Iraq’ over Biden’s Gaza policy
The mood among staff in the State Department is worse than during the disastrous American invasion of Iraq, according to a former staffer, as seven international aid workers were killed by Israel in Gaza.
“I have never seen this much dissent,” Charles Blaha, former director of the State Department’s Office of Security and Human Rights, told The Independent, amid growing disquiet over president Joe Biden’s Gaza policy.
“I was in the State Department for 32 years, including during the Iraq War, and I have never seen this much unhappiness. It was even worse than Iraq. So yeah, people are concerned,” Mr Blaha, who maintains contact with current staffers, said.
Read the full article here:
Mood in State Department is ‘worse than Iraq’ over Biden’s Gaza policy
State Department staff have filed at least seven internal dissent memos, according to one former staffer
In pictures: Pro-Palestine protest in London
Pro-Palestinian protesters take part at a demonstration on Al Quds Day in London.
Families in north Gaza ‘forced to survive on a less than a can of beans’ a day
Families in north Gaza are forced to live on less than a can of fava beans a day, Oxfam has said as senior UN officials described malnourished newborns so small that they weigh little more than a kilo.
Over 300,000 people are still believed to be trapped in the north of the besieged strip, which has seen the worst of Israel’s ferocious bombardment and where little to no aid has been getting in.
There, since January, families have been surviving on an average of 245 calories a day, according to Oxfam - less than 12 percent of the average recommended daily calorie needs.
Families in Gaza living on a ‘less than a can of beans a day’
‘Israel is making deliberate choices to starve civilians’ says Oxfam amid concerns of further hunger in aftermath of Israel’s fatal bombing of food charity WCK convoy
Cameron urges Israel to follow investigation into deadly strikes on aid workers with independent review
Israel must follow up its report into how three British aid workers were killed with “a wholly independent review to ensure the utmost transparency”, Lord David Cameron has said.
The UK will carefully review the findings of the initial Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) report into the incident released on Friday, the Foreign Secretary added.
Three Britons were among the World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers who died in air strikes by the IDF on Monday - John Chapman, 57, James “Jim” Henderson, 33, and James Kirby, 47.
The Israeli forces dismissed two officers over the strikes, which it described as a “grave mistake stemming from a serious failure”.
Three other senior officers were also reprimanded for their roles in the strike, which took place in Gaza.
The attack on the WCK aid convoy has resulted in rebukes from Israel‘s allies, while MPs from across the political spectrum have questioned whether the UK should continue exporting arms to the Middle Eastern country.
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