IDF defends intel process for Gaza strike that killed 9 family members

The Israeli military says it has wrapped up its investigation into two days of fighting in the Gaza Strip last month sparked by Israel’s targeted killing of a top military commander in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group.

“The main conclusion from the investigation is that the plan for ‘Black Belt’ met the purpose defined for it: Creating conditions to improve the reality in the Gaza Strip by killing Baha Abu al-Ata, seriously hurting terror operatives and military infrastructure of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group, reducing harm to Israeli civilians and avoiding being dragged to a wider campaign,” the IDF says in the statement, using the name it gave to the battle.

During the two days of battle, the military says it took out 25 terrorists and struck over 100 targets linked to Islamic Jihad.

It also says the investigation looked into an airstrike on a building in the central Gaza town of Deir el-Balah, killing nine members of a family.

According to the IDF, the house had been linked to Islamic Jihad military activity and was properly approved multiple times for the military’s target bank, including days before the strike.

“During the planning and carrying out of the attack, the estimation in the IDF was that no citizens would be hurt as a result,” the statement says.

It adds: “In the investigation it became clear at the site that was attacked military activities had been carried out, but it was not a closed site and in actuality citizens were also there.”

The IDF says the investigation included recommendations on how to avoid such “exceptional events” in the future, but doesn’t give further details.