The IDF on Thursday admitted that it had killed a UN official on March 19 after repeated detailed denials to the Jerusalem Post and other media.
Based on the IDF's specific previous denials, the Post has reported the military's narrative that the UN official's death and the wounding of five others were from an unexploded land mine or other ordinance that the UN officials tampered with, but not from IDF activity that day.
In fact, pressed multiple times by the Post, the IDF said that there was absolutely no IDF military fire in that area that day.
In contrast, on Thursday, the IDF announced that tank fire mistakenly killed the UN official and wounded the five others on March 19 in central Gaza, marking the second incident in which it has admitted a lethal error in one week.
IDF admits to a separate incident in southern Gaza
On Sunday, the IDF admitted in another March incident in southern Gaza to mistakenly killing 15 International Red Crescent medics and wounding another when it misidentified them as Hamas terrorists despite the fact that they were unarmed and driving in ambulances, leading to the firing of a major, deputy Golani commander, and the censuring of a colonel, brigade commander.
According to the IDF, the IDF tank and soldiers in the area on March 19 identified a suspected enemy element in the facility and fired on the structure to kill the suspected enemy.
It was unclear from the IDF what the suspicious signs were or whether, in fact, there were enemy fighters in the structure.
Further, the IDF said that it was not aware that the structure was a UN facility.
The IDF has not yet explained why it did not initially say it was unsure whether it was responsible or not, and why it so categorically denied involvement, and has now fully reversed itself to admit responsibility.
This incident is unlike the medics incident in which the IDF admitted fault from the start, though it did at the start claim certain extenuating circumstances, claims which it later mostly abandoned when admitting fault.
However, the Post has learned that the tank crew that fired on the facility initially claimed that since it thought it had fired on the enemy and not the UN, it did not flag its firing on that structure as problematic when initially questioned by IDF officials about the incident.
It was only during a more detailed check and questioning by Har Even's team that the tank crew realized that it had fired on a UN official. Alternatively, the tank crew may have given an account initially that was not true, but no sources are claiming that at this point.
Findings presented to Eyal Zamir and UN representatives
The latest developments are based on interim findings collected by the General Staff’s Fact Finding and Assessment Mechanism, headed by Maj. Gen. (Res.) Yoav Har-Even, which have been presented to IDF Chief of the General Staff, Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir, and to representatives of the UN.
Under the Chief of the General Staff’s directive, the examination will be completed in the coming days, pending the receipt of additional required information. The Chief of General Staff has also instructed that, upon completion of the process, the full findings be presented to the UN representatives.
The IDF said it "regrets this serious incident and continues to conduct thorough review processes to draw operational lessons and evaluate additional measures to prevent such events in the future."
"We express our deep sorrow for the loss and send our condolences to the family. As part of the IDF’s commitment to transparency and dialogue with international entities, the IDF has shared the findings gathered thus far with the UN. The IDF places great importance on continued engagement with international organizations, as part of efforts to enhance coordination, apply lessons learned, and prevent similar incidents from recurring in the future," said the military.