UN chief calls for change in Israeli strategy in Gaza and expresses alarm at use of AI in identifying targets
From CNN's Tim Lister and Richard Roth
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that while the Israeli government has admitted mistakes in the killing of seven aid workers earlier this week, there must be independent investigations and “meaningful” change on the ground.
In remarks delivered Friday in New York, Guterres said that “the essential problem is not who made the mistakes” in the killing of the World Central Kitchen staff, but the “military procedures in place that allow for those mistakes to multiply time and time again.”
“Fixing those failures requires independent investigations and meaningful change on the ground," he added.
Guterres also said that he was “deeply troubled" by reports that the Israeli military’s bombing campaign involved Artificial Intelligence as a tool in the identification of targets.
“No part of life and death decisions which impact entire families should be delegated to the cold calculation of algorithms. I have warned for many years of the dangers of weaponizing Artificial Intelligence and reducing the essential role of human agency. AI should be used as a force for good to benefit the world; not to contribute to waging war on an industrial level, blurring accountability," the UN chief said.
10:41 a.m. ET, April 5, 2024
Netanyahu shows no signs of losing his grip on power in Israel despite mounting pressures
From CNN's Jeremy Diamond in Jerusalem
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in Jerusalem, on February 18. Ronen Zvulun/Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s week began with the chants of thousands of protesters demanding a hostage deal and early elections outside the Knesset and his official residence. It ended with a scolding from USPresident Joe Biden over the Israeli military’s killing of seven humanitarian aid workers and the rapidly spiraling humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
In between, the Israeli prime minister’s chief political rival and war cabinet member raised his voice in support of early elections for the first time, ratcheting up the political pressure. And yet, Netanyahu’s grip on power doesn’t appear to be in any imminent danger of slipping away.
Even as the walls appear to be closing in and a majority of Israelis continue to disapprove of Netanyahu’s performance, the mounting international and domestic political pressure has yet to fundamentally change the dynamics of his governing coalition – whose collapse would trigger new elections – nor his willingness to remain in office.
“I don’t think that there’s any leader in the world that faces so many fronts – has to cope with so many fronts – internal and external,” said Aviv Bushinsky, a former adviser to Netanyahu. “(But in Israel), we don’t talk about approval rating, we talk about the coalition.”
Humanitarian organization warns of dire health crisis for pregnant women and mothers in Gaza
From CNN's Tim Lister
People inspect the damage caused by an artillery shell that hit the maternity hospital inside the Nasser Medical Complex, on December 17, in Khan Younis, Gaza. Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has issued a warning about the grim situation pregnant women and mothers face in Gaza, amid the collapse of health care in the territory.
With nearly six months of ongoing conflict, these vulnerable groups are struggling to survive, confronting acute shortages of food, water, and medical care, along with the looming threat of famine.
The daily death toll has included an average of 37 mothers.
Around 60,000 pregnant women in Gaza now face severe limitations or a complete lack of access to essential prenatal health services, it says.
The IRC says that of nearly 200 women giving birth in Gaza every day, the vast majority are left without the support of midwives, doctors, or health care facilities during or after delivery.
Out of 36 hospitals functioning before the conflict escalated, only two of the 12 that are partially operating can offer maternity services.
The nutritional status of over 155,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women, highly at risk of malnutrition as of December, is believed to have worsened significantly since then, the IRC says.
Arvind Das, IRC's team lead for the Gaza crisis, said women are now forced to give birth in makeshift conditions, among ruins or in overcrowded shelters, due to the unavailability of medical care. The shortage of electricity, medication, medical equipment, and personnel, compounded by Israeli restrictions on aid, has critically undermined healthcare delivery in Gaza, Das said.
9:43 a.m. ET, April 5, 2024
Blinken: US is reviewing Israel report on deadly strike of aid workers "very carefully" after receiving it
From CNN's Jennifer Hansler
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken addresses a media conference after a joint EU-US-Armenia high-level meeting at EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on April 4. Johanna Geron/AP
The US received Israel’s report on the deadly strike on a World Central Kitchen convoy in Gaza and is “reviewing it very carefully,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday.
“It's very important that Israel is taking full responsibility for this incident. It's also important that it appears to be taking steps to hold those responsible accountable,” he said in remarks before departing Belgium.
“We'll be discussing its conclusions with Israeli officials and with humanitarian organizations in the days to come,” Blinken added. The top US diplomat noted that “even more important is making sure that steps are taken going forward to ensure that something like this can never happen again.”
Blinken earlier Friday called for an “independent, thorough, and fully publicized investigation” into the Israeli strike that killed seven aid workers. Blinken reiterated that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated to President Joe Biden that Israel would be "making further changes to its procedures to make sure that those who are providing assistance to people who so desperately need it in Gaza are protected.”
“So we're going to be looking very carefully at what those steps are, how it achieves better deconfliction, better coordination, so that aid workers are protected,” he added.
9:21 a.m. ET, April 5, 2024
Israeli hostage "most likely" killed by Israeli combat helicopter on October 7, Air Force investigation finds
From CNN’s Benjamin Brown in London
Efrat Katz, kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, 2023. Poitout Florian/ABACA/Shutterstock
An Israeli hostage on October 7 was likely killed by fire from an Israeli combat helicopter that was firing at a vehicle with militants, an Israeli Air Force investigation has found.
Israeli Efrat Katz was likely killed when an Israeli helicopter struck the vehicle that the 67-year-old was in together with other hostages and militants. The Israeli military fired at the vehicle without knowing that hostages were in the vehicle alongside the militants, according to the Air Force investigation. The findings were presented to Katz’s family and the families of the hostages involved in the incident Friday.
Katz was kidnapped from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, southern Israel by militants from Gaza. Nir Oz is roughly 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) from the Gaza border. The investigation into her death was carried out by an air force team and was based on witness testimony and video footage. It was conducted alongside “in-depth examinations of all the combat incidents” on October 7.
“As a result of the fire, most of the terrorists manning the vehicle were killed, and most likely, Efrat Katz was killed as well,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Friday. The investigation found that the Israeli hostages in the vehicle “could not be distinguished by the existing surveillance systems, and the shooting was defined as shooting at a vehicle with terrorists.”
The IDF called the incident a “tragic and unfortunate event that took place in the midst of fighting and conditions of uncertainty.” The commander of the air force “did not find fault in the operation by the helicopter crew, who operated in compliance with the orders in a complex reality of war,” the IDF added.
10:32 a.m. ET, April 5, 2024
The IDF has published its report into the deadly strikes on aid workers. Here’s what we know
From CNN's Christian Edwards
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) killed seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers in Gaza on Monday, sparking international outrage.
On Friday, the IDF published a report into the killings, which it said violated its own protocols and should not have happened. The WCK has called for further independent investigations, saying the IDF cannot be trusted to “investigate its own failure in Gaza.”
Here’s what we know.
What the IDF said happened: The IDF has been trying to track down and kill Hamas militants in Gaza for nearly six months, and has long accused Hamas of embedding itself with civilians. It said its forces identified a gunman in an aid truck on Monday, and then identified an additional gunman.
“After the vehicles left the warehouse where the aid had been unloaded, one of the commanders mistakenly assumed the gunmen were located inside the accompanying vehicles and that these were Hamas terrorists,” it said.
The IDF said it did not identify the vehicles as belonging to WCK and so proceeded to target the three vehicles, leading to the deaths of the seven workers.
Separately, an IDF spokesperson told CNN that the unit responsible mistook “something slung over one of the passenger’s shoulders as a weapon,” when in fact it was a bag.
The official also confirmed that some of the aid workers who survived the first Israeli strike on their vehicle then fled to other vehicles, before being struck again.
The spokesperson said the surveillance drones could not see the WCK logo on the vehicles at night, and so are considering “distributing thermal stickers for aid vehicles” to prevent such attacks from happening again.
Who the IDF dismissed and punished: The IDF dismissed two senior officers over the strikes: The brigade fire support commander and the brigade chief of staff.
Others were formally reprimanded: The brigade commander and the 162nd Division commander. It said the strikes seriously violated the IDF’s Standard Operating Procedures and sent its condolences to the families of the victims and the WCK organization.
Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir criticized the decision to dismiss two military personnel over the deadly strike, saying it "is the abandonment of the soldiers in the middle of a war and a grave mistake that conveys weakness."
How the WCK has responded: The WCK slammed Israel for not following its own protocols.
It said firing the officers was an “important step,” but warned, “without systemic change, there will be more military failures, more apologies and more grieving families.”
“We demand the creation of an independent commission to investigate the killings of our WCK colleagues. The IDF cannot credibly investigate its own failure in Gaza,” it said.
This post has been updated with additional reactions to the IDF report.
9:33 a.m. ET, April 5, 2024
Survivors of first WCK vehicle strike fled to the next convoy vehicle before being struck again, IDF says
From CNN's Jeremy Diamond in Jerusalem
Palestinians stand next to a vehicle in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza, on April 2, where employees from the World Central Kitchen were killed in an Israeli airstrike. Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Getty Images
Some of the World Central Kitchen (WCK) workers who survived the first Israeli strike on their vehicle then fled to other vehicles, before being struck again, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson told CNN.
The IDF on Friday published its report into the strikes that killed seven WCK aid workers in Gaza this week.
An IDF spokesperson shared more details with CNN, confirming some of the aid workers in the first vehicle to be struck survived and fled to the next vehicle in the convoy.
The IDF said it targeted three vehicles in total, "leading to the deaths of seven innocent humanitarian workers."
8:55 a.m. ET, April 5, 2024
White House will "reserve judgment" on IDF report until it can go through findings, US official says
From CNN's Arlette Saenz and Samantha Waldenberg
White House national security communications adviser John Kirby speaks during a press briefing at the White House, on April 4. Evan Vucci/AP
The White House will “reserve judgment” on Israel’s investigation into the strike that killed aid workers from World Central Kitchen (WCK) in Gaza until it works through the report, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Friday.
“We’re going to work our way through that investigation ourselves and take a look and see what we think of their findings and their conclusions before we make any kind of judgment going forward,” Kirby told NBC. “We’ll reserve judgment until we have a chance to go through those findings.”
Israel dismissed two military officers as a just-released internal report finds "mistaken identification" and "errors in decision-making" led to the deadly attack on World Central Kitchen staff in Gaza on Monday.
President Joe Biden also “urged” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in their Thursday phone call to attend hostage deal negotiations in Cairo this weekend. The US will participate in those “conversations” in Cairo, Kirby told ABC.
“Nothing’s changed about the president’s desire – an immediate ceasefire in exchange for getting those hostages out and for getting all that extra aid in. that’s what negotiators are meeting this weekend to talk about in Cairo,” Kirby said.
9:32 a.m. ET, April 5, 2024
IDF unit that carried out strike on WCK convoy mistook bag for weapon
From CNN's Jeremy Diamond in Jerusalem
A view of the destroyed roof of a vehicle where employees from the World Central Kitchen (WCK) were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza, on April 2. Ahmed Zakot/Reuters
The Israeli forces involved in the strikes in Gaza that killed seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) staff earlier this week mistook a bag for a weapon, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told CNN.
The IDF misidentified something slung over one of the passenger’s shoulders as a weapon. Israeli military officials now assess it was likely a bag, the spokesperson said.
In addition, the spokesperson added that surveillance drones could not see the WCK logo on the vehicles at night. The IDF is considering distributing thermal stickers for aid vehicles to prevent this in the future, he added.
The spokesperson confirmed that some of the aid workers in the first vehicle to be struck survived and fled to the next vehicle in the convoy after the first vehicle was struck.
