Israeli military sacks two officers over strikes on WCK aid convoy

The Israeli military says it has dismissed two officers for their roles in an attack in central Gaza that killed seven aid workers, saying they had mishandled critical information and violated the army's rules of engagement. The military said in a report on Friday that an internal investigation "found that the forces identified a gunman on one of the aid trucks" which led to the discovery of another. The United States-based charity, World Central Kitchen (WCK), whose convoy was hit said Israel's "apologies for the outrageous killing of our colleagues represent cold comfort". WCK CEO Erin Gore also said "Israel needs to take concrete steps to assure the safety of humanitarian aid workers. The Israeli military said that after the vehicles left the warehouse where the aid had been unloaded "one of the commanders mistakenly assumed that the gunmen were located inside the accompanying vehicles and that these were Hamas terrorists". It called the strike on the aid vehicles "a grave mistake stemming from a serious failure due to a mistaken identification, errors in decision-making, and an attack contrary to the Standard Operating Procedures". Reporting from occupied East Jerusalem, Al Jazeera's Rory Challands pointed out that the report by the Israeli military makes no mention of any potential legal prosecutions against the dismissed officers. "That might come in the future, but it's certainly not contained in the report," he said. "What we're getting is dismissals and military reprimands.