You may recall the horrific killing by Israel in 2014 of four young children playing on a beach in Gaza. Robert Mackey writes that a confidential report reveals that these children were murdered using drones operated remotely.
Testimony from the officers involved in the attack, which has been concealed from the public until now, confirms for the first time that the children — four cousins ages 10 and 11 — were pursued and killed by drone operators who somehow mistook them, in broad daylight, for Hamas militants.
The testimony raises new questions about whether the attack, which unfolded in front of dozens of journalists and triggered global outrage, was carried out with reckless disregard for civilian life and without proper authorization. After killing the first boy, the drone operators told investigators, they had sought clarification from their superiors as to how far along the beach, used by civilians, they could pursue the fleeing survivors. Less than a minute later, as the boys ran for their lives, the drone operators decided to launch a second missile, killing three more children, despite never getting an answer to their question.
…According to the testimony of one naval officer involved in the strikes, the mission was initially considered “a great success,” because the strike team believed, wrongly, that they had killed four Hamas militants preparing to launch an attack on Israeli forces.
Within minutes of the two strikes, however, a group of international journalists who had witnessed the attack from nearby hotels reported that the victims torn apart by the missiles were not adult militants but four small boys, cousins who were 10 and 11 years old. Another four boys from the same family survived the attack, but were left with shrapnel wounds and deep emotional scars.
…THE SECRET TESTIMONY from the Israeli military personnel involved in the attack establishes for the first time that the drone operators treated the jetty as a free-fire zone on the mistaken assumption that it was off-limits to anyone but militants.
Of course, the Israel military cleared itself of any wrongdoing and did not file any charges against those responsible.
Mackey’s article links to photos and videos of the attack. But I just could not bring myself to link to them or watch them because they are both saddening and infuriating.
I’ll never forget Netanyahu’s obscene comment about “telegenic” corpses (presumably the ones not blown to pieces). Oh for a real hell, where Bibi can be blown up over and over again. Preferably with Trump, Assad, Putin and others of the Great and the Good.
The Israel military cleared itself of any wrongdoing
Gee, sounds just like the USA, he says bitterly. Our first four casualties in Afghanistan were from a US air attack.
“At least we didn’t hit a hospital or a wedding.”
@jrkrideau:
And as an interesting slap in the face to the U.S., for each of the four Remembrance Day ceremonies from 2002 to 2005, the ‘Silver Cross Mother’ (a woman who is the mother of a dead soldier, and who is given the opportunity to lay a wreath at the National War Memorial on Remembrance Day) was the mother of one of those four.
Canadians can do passive-aggressive like nobody’s business.
#3 @Marcus
“… this time.”
Why are these things not banned under the Geneva Convention?
Since when does Israel care about the Geneva Convention?