IDF officer sacked over killing of aid workers had called for Gaza ‘siege’

The most senior IDF commander dismissed for his role in the drone strike which killed seven aid workers in Gaza is a settler who in January signed an open letter calling for the Palestinian territory to be deprived of aid.

A senior lawyer said its contents – including a call for a “siege” of Gaza City – should be considered by the Israeli authorities investigating the killings.

Colonel Nochi Mandel was one of two officers dismissed last week following the relentless drone attack on three vehicles belonging to the World Central Kitchen (WCK) charity. The attack continued until the Israelis had killed all the charity workers.

An investigation by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said the strikes were 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 January letter, Col Mandel – a religious nationalist who lives in a illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank – along with more than 130 other reserve officers and commanders, called for the flow of aid into Gaza to be restricted.

The letter was sent on January 20 to the Israeli war cabinet and the IDF chief of staff and asked 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, one of Britain’s leading barristers, said the letter should “absolutely” be considered by the Israelis 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.” (© Telegraph Media Group Ltd 2024)