Israel: Probe of aid convoy attack done
Reports: US approved sending bombs on day strike killed aid workers
The Israeli military’s probe into its attack on an aid convoy in Gaza that killed seven international workers this week has been completed and the findings will be released to the public soon, spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Thursday.
The announcement came as President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that attacks on aid workers “and the overall humanitarian situation (in Gaza) are unacceptable,” according to a White House readout of their phone call Thursday.
The global outcry over humanitarian concerns in Gaza has gained momentum since the aid workers, volunteers for celebrity chef José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen, were killed when their vehicles were bombed Monday. Biden said he was “outraged and heartbroken” by the attack. Netanyahu has said the attack was accidental and promised an investigation.
The incident was investigated “thoroughly” by the General Staff Fact-Finding Assessment Mechanism, an independent military body responsible for investigating unusual incidents amid the war, Hagari said.
“I believe that after we present it to the ambassadors of the relevant countries, and to the people of WCK, we will publicize it in a clear, transparent way soon,” Hagari said at a briefing translated by The Times of Israel.
Hagari said the report would first be presented to Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
US sent munitions to Israel same day as WCK attack
The Biden administration reportedly approved the shipment of thousands more bombs to Israel the same day of the Israeli airstrikes that killed the WCK volunteers.
Three U.S. officials told The Washington Post the State Department approved the transfer of more than 1,000 MK82 500-pound bombs, over 1,000 small-diameter bombs and fuses for MK80 bombs. All the weapons transfers had been authorized by Congress years before the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that ignited the current war in Gaza, said the U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive arms deals. The Post and CNN, which also reported on the shipment, said it occurred before the Israeli strike.
Last week, the U.S. authorized the transfer of billions of dollars worth of bombs and fighter jets to Israel, Reuters then reported, despite the White House publicly expressing concern over the still-anticipated Israeli military offensive in Rafah.
Meanwhile, three former British Supreme Court justices and more than 600 members of the British legal profession called for their government to halt arms sales to Israel, saying the transactions could make Britain complicit in genocide in Gaza. Three British citizens were among the WCK workers killed in Monday’s strike. The justices said their nation must use all available leverage to persuade Israel, and the United States, to alter the course of the war.
“The provision of military assistance and material to Israel may render the U.K. complicit in genocide as well as serious breaches of International Humanitarian Law,” the judges, lawyers and legal academics said in a 17-page letter sent late Wednesday to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
The British government has been a staunch ally of Israel since the war began, but Foreign Secretary David Cameron has toughened his language in recent weeks amid increasing humanitarian concerns. Still, Sunak has resisted calls to halt the weapons sales, saying the government adheres to a “very careful licensing regime.”
Hamas says cease-fire, hostage talks going nowhere
Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said talks with Israel aimed at a cease-fire, hostage release and ultimately an end to the war have become a “vicious circle” and are making no progress. Hamdan accused Netanyahu of creating obstacles to an agreement, saying he is “not concerned with the release” of hostages held in Gaza.
“The occupation still rejects the demands of our people and our legitimate resistance for a comprehensive ceasefire, withdrawing from (Gaza), the return of the displaced, and a real exchange for the prisoners,” he said.
Egyptian and Qatari efforts, backed by the United States, have so far failed to achieve a cease-fire. While Hamas wants any cease-fire agreement to secure an end to the Israeli military offensive, Israel prefers a prisoners-for-hostage release deal, refusing to commit to ending its military campaign.
The Israeli military released 101 Palestinians who had been detained by forces during the ground offensive in the past weeks and months. The detainees, many of whom complained of ill treatment in Israeli jails, were freed through the Israeli Kerem Shalom crossing into the southern Gaza Strip.
However, Israeli bombardment in Gaza continued to target areas across the Palestinian enclave Thursday, killing 62 people in 24 hours, the territory’s health ministry said. Israel has repeatedly argued that it has a right to defend itself after the Hamas-led militant attack on Oct. 7 killed almost 1,200 people in border communities. More than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, Palestinian officials say.
Israel cancels leave for troops after Iran threat
The Israeli military said it would “temporarily delay” leave for all troops in fighting units as Israel awaits retaliation from Iran for a strike on an Iranian consulate in Syria. The strike Monday killed the leader of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, his deputy, a member of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group and several other military officials.
Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack. Israeli military spokesman Hagari cited “a new assessment of the war” in canceling the leaves. The Israeli military “is at war and the issue of the deployment of forces is constantly reviewed according to need.”