We can’t be happy with Israel marking its own homework in this war
The UK must keep demanding answers after the devastating deaths of seven aid workers,
I shared the sadness of the rest of the world at the news of the tragic deaths of the seven individuals working for the World Central Kitchen (WCK) in Gaza. British victims John Chapman, 57, James ‘Jim’ Henderson, 33, and James Kirby, 47, were among the humanitarian workers who died in the attack.
The three were private military contractors employed by Dorset-based Solace Global, a private security firm which had contracted some of its employees to support WCK’s work bringing humanitarian aid via the “maritime route” (ie the jetty built by WCK on the Gaza coast) to the stricken population of that God-forsaken enclave.
Some might say that labelling them “humanitarian workers”, as most of the media seems to have done, is slightly disingenuous. That they were involved in humanitarian work is beyond dispute, and a commendable thing that they were, but they were the security detail. “Employed in humanitarian work” might be better.
Israel’s war in Gaza will not destroy Hamas – this is the right way to do it
Not that they shouldn’t be handsomely paid either, for it’s clearly dangerous stuff and not for the faint-hearted. And of course what they were engaged in should not have resulted in their demise under any circumstances.
At the moment it looks as if they met their deaths as a result of a tragic accident. The IDF has been remarkably quick in conducting its own inquiry, which indicates that something clearly went badly wrong.
We now know that there was not just one strike but three separate strikes, presumed to be from an armed drone, against the vehicles in the WCK convoy, spread over a 2.5 kilometre length of highway along the Gaza coast. That represents just not one mistake, rather a catalogue of errors.
My original thought was that the British guards with the convoy would have been armed, and therefore the IDF drone operator and intelligence personnel could have mistaken them for Hamas gunmen.
So it now appears that there was a catalogue of errors by the IDF, mainly down to lack of communication. Despite WCK clearing its operation and route with the authorities, it seems that this information was not passed on as it should have been.
The fact that the incident happened during the hours of darkness would not have helped either. The drone operator would most likely have been observing the scene via a night observation device, probably IR or thermal, which would not necessarily have picked up the WCK logo on the roof on at least one of the three vehicles.
In this social media age, of course, conspiracy theories are spreading like wildfire. One of the more wild-eyed ones is that the convoy was actually smuggling a Hamas leader out of Gaza City past the IDF on his way to Rafah and escape into Egypt. Another is that the security guards were really employed by MI6, the CIA, or Shin Bet – or possibly all three.
I think we can safely dismiss such theories. In the chaotic circumstances pertaining to most wars mistakes and accidents often happen.
Lt Col Stuart Crawford is a defence analyst and former army officer. Sign up for his podcasts and newsletters at www.DefenceReview.uk
Lt Col Stuart Crawford’s latest book Tank Commander (Hardback) is available now
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