Let’s start with the most stirring report, posted by The Persian Jewess, an “Iranian Jewish refugee, peaceful activist, staunch warrior against antisemitism and Jew hate.” She tweeted early Sunday morning:
“BREAKING IDF has revealed that Hamas PURPOSELY drew fire to the WCK truck.
“At around 10 pm, the IDF noticed suspicious activity as the WCK vehicle was joined by a convoy of several other Hamas vehicles.
“Hamas terrorists then climbed ONTO and INTO the WCK truck and FIRED several times indiscriminately into the air to ensure the IDF would see them.
“The convoy then split up and entered a hanger, where it became difficult to distinguish between the Hamas vehicles and the WCK vehicle.
“IDF attempted to call both the WCK workers and WCK HQ on TWO separate occasions to confirm whether they were with the Hamas convoy but their calls remained unanswered.
“When the vehicles left the hangar OVER AN HOUR LATER the IDF drone unit misidentified the WCK vehicle for a vehicle from the Hamas convoy and mistakenly struck.
“The IDF has provided their full findings to both WCK and Jose Andres, and are now requiring new stickers for aid vehicles which can be seen via drones even in the dark.”
The event took place on April 1. On April 5, Maj. Gen.(ret.) Yoav Har-Even, currently President and CEO of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems who, until his discharge from the IDF, served as head of the military’s Operations Directorate, presented IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi with a report on his investigation of the death of seven World Central Kitchen employees.
Shortly thereafter, Halevi dismissed two senior commanders in the fighting formation in the Gaza Strip and reprimanded other senior commanders, including the Commander of the Southern Command, General Yaron Finkelman, as News 1 reported last Friday.
The Palestinians claim this was an IDF strike that killed the WCK volunteers. pic.twitter.com/LqQMYYTBMO
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) April 2, 2024
According to the IDF Spokesman, Har-Even’s report showed that IDF forces identified one gunman on the roof of one of the aid trucks, who was later joined by another gunman. After the vehicles left the warehouse where the aid had been unloaded, one of the commanders mistakenly assessed that the armed men were Hamas terrorists. The forces did not identify the vehicles in question as being associated with the WCK organization.
“Following a misidentification, the forces attacked the three WCK vehicles, based on the misunderstanding that there were Hamas operatives in them, thus resulting in the death of seven innocent humanitarian aid operatives,” the IDF Spokesman said, adding that “The attack on the three vehicles was carried out in serious violation of the relevant orders and instructions.”
AFP reported last Friday that the WCK workers unloaded 300 tons of food aid from Cyprus at a pier near Deir al-Balah on the Gaza coast. That part of the operation was secured by IDF soldiers and did not require armed personnel to guard the trucks.
A convoy comprising eight trucks proceeded southward along the coastal road for approximately 20 minutes. At 10:28 PM, near the WCK Welcome Center, it was joined by four pickup trucks transporting aid workers. It was at that point, according to Har Even’s report, that an armed man climbed the roof of one of the vehicles and “started firing his weapon,” which, Har-Even wrote, led the IDF to suspect the “convoy had been hijacked by Hamas.”
According to AFP, the IDF presented journalists with drone footage depicting what seemed to be an individual firing an automatic rifle from atop a truck. Proceeding along its designated route, the convoy eventually halted at the warehouse identified as “Hangar A,” where the military asserted that the assailant had disembarked.
The IDF tried to contact the WCK for an explanation of what appeared like a Hamas robbery of the humanitarian aid. However, the security officer of the charity in Europe said he was unable to establish contact with the team on the ground – making the suspicion of a Hamas robbery even stronger.
Upon the arrival of the aid trucks and pickups at WCK’s Hangar A, the Air Force drone detected “15 to 20 individuals outside the hangar, and at least two to four of them were identified as carrying weapons,” Har-Even reported.
According to Har-Even, “Between 10:47 and 10:55 PM, one of the Israeli commanding officers (viewing the images back at base) concluded they were Hamas operatives.” But after sharing their conclusion with IDF Command, “they were ordered not to strike the armed individuals so as not to risk the humanitarian convoy,” even though “two to four gunmen were identified as getting out and going into the hangar.”
According to Har-Even, the IDF rules of engagement forbid striking suspects that close to a warehouse full of humanitarian aid.
Har-Even mentioned that as the three pickups retraced their route toward the coast, the brigade-level commanders who were following the drone’s video in real-time were confident they had observed an armed individual boarding one of the pickups, concluding that he was a Hamas terrorist.
Har-Even reported that the drone team was convinced “the humanitarian mission had ended and they were tracking at least one Hamas gunman.”
Between 11:09 and 11:13 PM, the drone moved from one vehicle to the next, killing seven aid workers in three vehicles, “which was against standard operating procedures,” according to Har-Even.
Did, as the Persian Jewess claims, “Hamas terrorists then climbed ONTO and INTO the WCK truck and FIRED several times indiscriminately into the air to ensure the IDF would see them?” Well, this is the part neither Har-Even nor the IDF Spokesman explain. The WCK should provide an explanation – unless it is concealing the part about Hamas attempting to draw IDF fire to its pickups, to start the worst international incident Israel has encountered since sinking the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967.
