IDF officer behind deaths of charity workers sought end to Gaza aid
THE most senior IDF commander dismissed for his role in the drone strike that killed seven charity workers in Gaza signed an open letter in January calling for the territory to be deprived of aid, The Telegraph can reveal.
A senior British lawyer said its contents – including a call for a “siege” of Gaza City – should be considered by the Israeli authorities investigating the killings.
Colonel (Res) Nochi Mandel, the chief of staff of the Nahal Infantry Brigade, was one of two officers dismissed last week following the incident in which three vehicles belonging to World Central Kitchen (WCK) were attacked by drones, killing all those inside, including three Britons.
An investigation by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) characterised the strikes as a “grave mistake” but concluded there was no intentional harm. “Those who approved the strike were convinced that they were targeting armed Hamas operatives and not WCK employees,” it said.
In the letter, Col Mandel, a religious nationalist who lives in a settlement in the occupied West Bank, called with more than 130 other reserve officers and commanders for the flow of aid into Gaza to be restricted.
The letter was sent on Jan 20 to the Israeli war cabinet and the IDF chief of staff, and implored them to “do everything in your power” not to allow “humanitarian supplies and the operation of hospitals inside Gaza City” following its evacuation.
The idea was to lay siege to the area until the estimated 130 Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza were returned.
“As far as we understand … it is permissible and legal according to the laws of armed conflict, to impose a siege on a certain area, on the condition that the citizens who are in it are allowed evacuation corridors,” the letter adds.
Michael Mansfield, KC, head of Nexus Chambers and one of Britain’s leading barristers, said the letter should “absolutely” be considered by those investigating the incident.
“The document is plainly relevant to a particular state of mind,” said Mr Mansfield. “In other words it is not indicating that the target of the Israeli army is primarily Hamas but Gaza as a whole by weaponising aid under siege conditions.
“Those who will inevitably suffer and run the risk of death as a result are bound to be non-combatant civilians, medics, women, children, the injured and those who are responsible for bringing aid as with the seven killed.”
Another senior British legal figure, who asked not to be named, said that while the letter may show “animus,” it was not, in their view, relevant to the question of establishing motives for last week’s drone strike.
Although the IDF has concluded its investigation, a judicial inquiry is ongoing to determine whether criminal charges should be brought against those involved in the air strike.
Col Mandel is the highest-ranking officer to have been dismissed in connection to the attack. In 2007, he was named in the Israeli media as one of the IDF’S “10 most promising religious officers”.
The son of a Holocaust survivor, he lives in Gush Etzion, a cluster of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
In his youth, he studied at a religious school run by the Ateret Cohanim, a Right-wing Jewish organisation dedicated to “returning, reclaiming, and rebuilding a United Jerusalem”.
Since 2000, the organisation has been acquiring land in the Arab neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem outside the Old City.
An IDF spokesperson told The Telegraph: “As concluded in the investigation, a chain of serious failures led to a situation where the forces that struck the convoy were not aware of the fact that the vehicles belonged to the WCK organisation at the time of the strike, and believed that they were Hamas operatives.
“Following the operational failures that emerged in the investigation, the Chief of Staff decided to dismiss the relevant officers. In addition, the findings of the investigation were forwarded to the Military Advocate General’s Corps for the purpose of making a decision regarding the opening of a criminal investigation by the military police.”
Col Mandel was also approached for comment by The Telegraph, both via telephone and the IDF.
‘It [the letter] is not indicating that the target of the Israeli army is primarily Hamas but Gaza as a whole’ ‘Those who will inevitably suffer and run the risk of death as a result are bound to be noncombatants’