Gaza war: ‘We’ll dismiss commander’ – Israel admits professional failures in killing of 15 rescue workers

Israel’s military has admitted to several “professional failures” and a breach of orders in the killing of 15 rescue workers in Gaza last month.

The military said it was dismissing a deputy commander responsible for the misfortune.

Six civil defence workers, a UN staffer and eight Red Crescent paramedics were killed in the deadly shooting by Israeli troops.

The aide workers were on a rescue mission in southern Gaza at dawn on 23 March when the incident happened.

The killing has raised a lot of questions and prompted international outcry while calls for a war crimes investigation are being made.

The military were said to have buried the victims in a sandy mass grave alongside their crushed vehicles where their bodies were uncovered days after the shooting.

Israel at first claimed that the medics’ vehicles did not have emergency signals on when troops opened fire.

However, on Sunday, the military said an investigation had “identified several professional failures, breaches of orders, and a failure to fully report the incident”.

As a result, the deputy commander of the IDF’s Golani Brigade “will be dismissed from his position due to his responsibilities as the field commander … and for providing an incomplete and inaccurate report during the debrief”.

It added that the commander, whose unit was in operation in the southern city of Rafah, where the killings took place, would be censured for “his overall responsibility for the incident”, the military said.